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JAN  20  1932 


HISTORICAL    DISCOURSE, 


COMMEMORATIVE    OF    THE    ORGANIZATION    OF    THE 


jFtrst  pmbgtttiatt  Cljurcl), 


• 


IN  NEWBURYPORT, 


DELIVERED    AT    THE 


FIRST  CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION,  JAN.  7,  1846. 


By  JONATHAN  F.  STEARNS,  Pastor. 


NEWBURYPORT: 
PUBLISHED  BY  JOHN  G.  TILTON. 

1846. 


*: 


NEWBURYPORT,  Jaw.  15,  1846 

Rev.  and  Dear  Sir: 

The  undersigned,  a  Committee  of  the  First  Presbyterian  Society, 
would  express  to  you  their  sincere  thanks  for  the  very  interesting  and 
instructive  Discourse,  delivered  by^ou  on  the  recent  Centennial  Anniver- 
sary, and  would  respectfully  request  a  copy  of  the  same  for  publication. 

Hoping  that  you  may   accede  to  our   wishes,  we   are,  Dear  Sir,  with 
sentiments  of  respect, 

Truly  Yours, 

MOSES  PETTINGELL, 

EZRA  LUNT,  J>  Comnitue. 

ROGER  S.  HOWARD, 


HA8KELL  4:  MOORE,  PRINTERS, 
No.  4  Wast..  -trext,    .    .    .    Eostdh. 


The  dates,  uniformly  given  in  the  following  narrative,  prior  to  1752, are, 
as  respect  the  month  and  day  of  the  month,  in  the  Old  Style.  This  was 
thought  to  be,  on  the  whole,  the  preferable  method,  as  the  dates  could,  in 
this  way,  be  seen  at  once  to  correspond  %o  those  of  the  documents  from 
which  they  are  taken.  It  will  be  very  easy,  however,  for  the  reader  to 
reduce  them  to  the  present  mode  of  reckoning,  by  adding,  in  each  instance, 
eleven  days  to  the  date  given.  Thus  the  date  of  the  organization  of  the 
Church  is  given,  in  the  Church  Records,  and  in  the  present  narrative,  as 
the  3d  of  January.  According  to  the  present  reckoning,  the  true  anni- 
versary of  that  event  is  on  the  fourteenth.  The  same  reduction  must  be 
applied  to  the  events  which  follow. 

In  preparing  this  discourse  the  authorities  relied  upon  have  been,  1st,  the 
Records  and  files  of  the  Church.  2d,  a  manuscript  statement,  supposed  to 
have  been  presented  to  the  Legislature  of  the  State,  containing  copies  of 
votes  of  the  First  Church  in  Newbury  and  correspondence  between  the 
aggrieved  of  that  Church  and  the  pastor,  with  the  result  of  the  exparte 
council,  called  by  the  aggrieved.  3d,  a  copy  of  the  result  of  the  exparte 
council,  subsequently  called  by  the  Church  and  pastor.  4th,  the  ecclesias- 
tical files  of  the  State,  containing  petitions  and  remonstrances  from  the 
different  parties,  and  the  originals  of  a  somewhat  extended  correspondence 
between  the  aggrieved  of  the  third  Church  in  Newbury  and  their  pastor. 
5th,  the  Records  of  the  First  and  Third  Churches.  6th,  the  manuscript 
journal  of  the  Rev.  Jonathan  Parsons.  7th,  a  manuscript  collection  of  letters 
written  by  Mr.  Parsons,  and  now  in  the  possession  of  some  cf  his  descend- 
ants. 8th,  Prince's  Christian  History,  Tucker's  "Brief  Account,"  and  a 
variety  of  miscellaneous  pamphlets  and  volumes. 

The  author  would  tender  his  sincere  thanks  to  the  Clerks  of  the  First 
Church  in  Newbury  and  the  First  Church  in  Newburyport,  for  their  polite- 
ness in  allowing  him  the  use  of  their  Records.  Also,  to  Joshua  Coffin, 
Esq.  and  others,  for  valuable  documents  furnished  by  them. 


DISCOURSE. 


Psalm  lxxviii :  2 — 7. 


I  will  utter  dark  sayings  of  old,  which  we  have  heard  and  known  and 
our  fathers  have  told  us  ;  we  will  not  hide  them  from  their  children, 
shewing  to  the  generation  to  come  the  praises  of  the  Lord  and  his  strength 
and  the  wonderful  works  that  he  hath  done",  for  he  established  a  testimony 
in  Jacob  and  appointed  a  law  in  Israel,  which  he  commanded  our  fathers, 
that  they  should  make  them  known  to  their  children ;  that  the  generation 
to  come  might  know  them,  even  the  children  which  should  be  born,  who 
should  arise  and  declare  them  to  their  children  ;  that  they  might  set  their 
hope  in  God,  and  not  forget  the  works  of  God,  but  keep  his  commandments. 


The  passage  of  Scripture  just  recited,  no  less  than  the 
present  occasion,  invites  us  to  review  and  remember,  that 
we  may  transmit  to  those  who  come  after  us,  the  history 
of  God's  goodness  to  us  as  a  people. 

The  planting  of  a  Church  and  the  gathering  of  a  religious 
society,  are  among  the  most  important  events  in  the  history 
of  any  community.  What  influences  for  good  or  for  evil, 
will  be  shed  abroad  from  the  fruit  and  leaves  of  that  tree ! 
If  a  true  Church,  established  upon  true  principles,  maintain- 
ing the  faith  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  and  built  on  him,  as  its 
chief  corner-stone,  how  salutary  will  be  the  effects  of  its 
existence.  If  a  false  or  corrupt  Church — a  Church  designed 
to  inculcate   false  doctrine,  or  maintain  the  forms  without 

the  substance   of  the  Gospel,  how  deplorable  will  be  the 

1* 


consequences  to  multitudes !  Such  as  the  Churches  are,  in 
a  given  community,  such,  as  a  general  rule,  will  be  the 
character  of  the  people  at  large. 

The  Church,  whose  first  centennial  anniversary  we  now 
celebrate,  (App.  1.)  had  its  origin  at  a  period  of  no  com- 
mon interest.  The  "  Great  Awakening,"  which  commenced 
about  the  year  seventeen  hundred  and  forty,  is  deservedly 
regarded  as  an  era  in  the  history  of  the  Churches  in  New 
England.  Then  a  change  was  begun  in  their  character 
which  is  felt,  far  and  wide,  to  this  day, — a  change  which, 
we  trust  in  God,  will  not  cease  to  be  admired  and  honored, 
till  the  dawning  of  the  glory  of  the  latter  day  shall  dim, 
by  its  excess  of  brightness,  all  former  communications  of 
the  light  of  heaven.  As  this  Church  was  emphatically,  and 
perhaps  beyond  almost  any  other  in  this  region,  the  child 
of  that  remarkable  impulse,  it  seems  proper  before  proceed- 
ing to  its  own  particular  history,  to  take  a  hasty  glance  at 
the  general  features  of  the  crisis  at  which  it  originated. 

The  first  Churches  of  New  England  were  established  on 
the  most  strictly  evangelical  foundation.  They  believed 
and  professed  the  great  principles  of  the  protestant  reforma- 
tion, with  remarkable  affection  and  strictness.  Their  cor- 
ner-stone was  the  doctrine  of  justification  by  faith  only, 
good  works  being  the  necessary  fruits  of  faith,  and  thereby 
its  evidence,  but  by  no  means  the  meritorious  cause  of  sal- 
vation. They  believed,  as  fully,  in  the  necessity  of  a 
renovation  of  the  sinner's  heart,  by  which  its  whole  char- 
acter and  tendencies  might  be  changed,  the  dominion  of 
sin  broken,  the  life  of  God  in  the  soul  enkindled,  and  the 
whole  spiritual  man  created  anew  in  God's  likeness.  This 
change,  they  ascribed  wholly  to  the  Divine  spirit,  working 
indeed,  ordinarily,  not  without  means,  but  at  the  same  time 
so  employing  these,  as  to  impart  to  them  no  share  in  the 
glory  of  the  great  result.     True   piety,  in   their  estimation, 


was  a  product  of  regeneration,  and  consisted,  not  in  any 
outward  performances,  nor  even  in  the  most  blameless  out- 
ward morality,  but  in  that  inward  conformity  of  the  heart 
to  God,  that  love  to  him  and  communion  with  him,  of 
which  outward  goodness  is  but  the  necessary  manifestation. 
Under  the  influence  of  these  doctrines,  preached  earnestly 
by  such  men  as  Shepard,  and  Cotton,  and  Norton,  and 
Mitchell,  and  Hooker,  and  Stone,  "  the  word  of  God  grew 
and  multiplied;"  and  the  preachers,  themselves,  full  of  the 
spirit  of  their  divine  message,  could  rejoice  that  they  seldom 
preached,  without  some  visibly  good  effect  upon  the  hearts 
and  consciences  of  their  hearers,  and  without  finding  some, 
who  had  before  been  careless,  beginning  to  inquire,  "  What 
shall  I  do  to  be  saved  ?" 

But  this  happy  and  very  promising  commencement  was 
not  destined  to  perpetuate  its  influence.  The  spirituality 
of  the  Churches  began  at  an  early  day  visibly  to  decline, 
and  when  the  first  century  closed,  there  was  great  occasion, 
as  the  eye  of  Christian  love  looked  abroad  over  the  land,  to 
exclaim,  "  How  has  the  gold  become  dim  and  the  most 
fine  gold  changed."  First,  there  was  manifested  a  great 
decline  of  spiritual  vitality.  Religion  became  more  a 
matter  of  profession,  and  form,  and  less  an  experience  of 
the  heart.  Then  the  boundaries  between  the  Church  and 
the  world  became  less  distinct.  Multitudes  became  mem- 
bers of  the  Church,  who  gave  no  evidence  that  they  were 
truly  regenerate.  Church  discipline  was  neglected.  Im- 
morality invaded  the  sacred  enclosure.  The  preaching 
became  less  discriminating  and  pungent.  The  doctrines 
of  the  ancient  faith,  long  neglected,  and  reduced  in  the 
minds  of  the  people  to  a  dead  letter,  were  fast  gliding  away 
from  the  popular  creed,  and  were  on  the  eve  of  being 
displaced  for  another  system. 

Such  was  the  condition  of  a  large  portion  of  the  Churches 


8 

of  New  England,  when  the  great  change  to  which  I  have 
alluded  broke  upon  them  in  its  power.  Already  had  the 
morning  star  shone  forth,  in  the  great  revival  at  Northamp- 
ton, five  years  previous,  under  the  faithful  preaching  of  the 
old  doctrines*  by  the  celebrated  Jonathan  Edwards.  But 
the  whole  horizon  began  now  to  be  illuminated.  The 
whole  land  soon  glowed  beneath  the  brightness  of  the 
risen  sun.  Under  the  preaching  of  such  men  as  Whitefield 
and  Tcnnent,  men  evidently  raised  up  to  perform  a  special 
work,  the  impulse  spread  like  electric  flame.  It  stirred 
to  its  inmost  depths  the  compact  population  of  the  larger 
commercial  towns.  It  penetrated  the  interior  villages. 
Churches  which  had  long  since  "  settled  upon  their  lees" 
now  began  to  feel  within  them  a  strange  fermentation. 
Old  respectability,  proud  of  its  decent  forms,  began  to  find 
the  sceptre  of  its  influence  loosening  in  its  grasp,  and  the 
legitimacy  of  its  long  dominion  boldly  questioned,  by  a 
race,  professing  to  have  been  just  now  turned  from  darkness 
unto  marvellous  light. 

The  effect  of  this  new  impulse  fell,  as  might  have  been 
expected,  most  heavily  on  the  pastors  of  the  churches. 
Secure  of  their  support  by  the  aid  of  the  civil  law,  pledging 
all  the  real  and  personal  estate,  within  certain  geographical 
limits,  for  the  fulfilment  of  their  pecuniary  contracts  :  and 
ministering  to  a  people,  not  desirous  of  great  pastoral  fidel- 
ity, to  the  disturbance  of  their  slumbering  consciences,  a 
large  part  of  them  had  settled  down  into  a  dull  routine  of 
Sabbath  day  performances,  and  were  spending  their  week 
day  hours,  when  not  employed   in  the  preparation  of  their 

*  It  is  a  fact  worthy  of  special  attention,  that  the  same  doctrine  of 
justification  by  faith  only,  which  in  the  hands  of  Luther  was  the  life  and 
soul  of  the  Protestant  Reformation,  was,  in  the  hands  of  Edwards,  the 
means  of  imparting  the  first  impulse  to  that  great  awakening,  which 
revived  to  new  life  the  decayed  and  slumbering  Churches  of  this  Country. 


9 

hasty  discourses,  in  the  improvement  of  their  parsonage 
lands,  the  indulgence  of  their  literary  tastes,  or  in  friendly 
correspondence  and  social  intercourse  with  each  other,  and 
with  those  distinguished  men  in  civil  life  who  courted 
their  society  and  respected  their  respectability,  or  sought  to 
avail  themselves,  for  their  own  purposes,  of  their  unbounded 
influence.  Many  of  the  ministers  of  that  day,  it  is  sup- 
posed, were  men  who  had  never  experienced,  in  their  own 
hearts,  the  power  of  the  faith  which  they  professed  to 
teach.  Many  had  become  very  sceptical  in  regard  to  its 
fundamental  doctrines.  And  even  those  who  were  at  heart 
faithful  men,  and  desired  sincerely  the  spiritual  welfare  of 
their  flocks,  infected  to  a  great  extent  with  the  surrounding 
atmosphere,  had  become  over  cautious,  in  regard  to  every 
thing  like  excitement  in  religion,  and,  to  avoid  offence, 
dwelt  chiefly  on  those  vague  generalities,  which  at  best 
play  round  the  head  but  come  not  near  the  heart. 

Upon  a  clergy  so  secure  and  slumberous,  the  great 
awakening  burst  forth  like  the  shock  of  an  earthquake. 
Some  aroused  themselves,  like  the  five  wiser  virgins  when 
the  bridegroom  came,  and  made  haste  to  welcome  the 
wonderful  guest.  Some  at  first  acted  the  prudent  part 
of  bending  to  the  storm,  thinking  to  let  it  pass  over  them 
unresisted,  and  blow  by.  Others,  really  friendly  to  what- 
ever was  good  and  genuine  in  the  work  of  grace,  were  yet 
alarmed  by  the  evils  which  attended  it,  and,  perhaps  too 
much  influenced  by  the  opinion  of  some  whom  they  deemed 
wise  and  judicious,  run  well  for  a  little  season  and  then 
were  hindered. 

It  was  not  long,  however,  before  the  party  lines  among 
the  pastors  of  the  Churches  became  quite  prominent. 
When  the  famous  Whitefield  first  came  to  Boston,  all  the 
clergy  there,  and  in  the  neighboring  towns,  with  scarce  an 
exception,  welcomed  him  with  open  arms.     A  few  years 


10 

passed,  and  a  considerable  party  among  them  had  taken  an 
entirely  different  view  of  his  character  and  influence.  His 
faults  were  magnified,  his  good  depreciated.  Pulpits  were 
shut  against  him.  and  pamphlets  warned  the  public  to 
beware  of  his  fanatical  influence. 

But  it  is  not  easy  to  stop  an  earthquake  when  it  has 
commenced  its  motion,  nor  to  stay  the  progress  of  a  hurri- 
cane by  the  rebuke  of  human  authority.  The  popular 
mind  had  been  roused,  and  the  excitement  could  be  quelled 
only  by  the  voice  of  truth.  Unfortunately  for  those  who 
would  restore  the  calm,  truth  was  mainly  on  the  side  of 
their  opponents.  The  people  saw  that  the  new  doctrines, 
were,  after  all,  only  those  which  the  fathers  of  New  Eng- 
land taught,  which  were  acknowledged  in  the  confessions 
of  faith  of  their  own  Churches,  and  in  which,  in  childhood, 
they  themselves  had  been  instructed  from  the  Assembly's 
Catechism.  They  saw,  too,  that  the  effects  produced  by 
them,  were,  in  the  main,  the  legitimate  results  of  those 
principles.  And  why  then  should  the  respected  pastors  of 
the  churches  wish  to  oppose  the  preaching  of  those  doc- 
trines, and  the  production  of  those  effects  ? 

The  result  was  such  as  might  have  easily  been  antici- 
pated. The  coldness,  which  so  many  Christian  ministers 
exhibited  amidst  the  general  fervor,  led  many  to  doubt  the 
reality  of  their  own  conversion,  and  the  sincerity  of  their 
professed  attachment  to  the  ancient  faith  ;  and  what  was 
doubtless  true  of  many,  soon  began  to  be  asserted  boldly 
of  the  whole.  The  cord  that  bound  the  religious  commu- 
nity  together  was  now  broken.  The  old  decencies  were 
despised  as  sheer  hypocrisy.  The  influence  of  the  pastors 
was  no  longer  heeded,  because  the  people  had  lost 
confidence  in  their  sincere  attachment  to  the  cause  of 
piety.  Men  of  more  zeal  than  knowledge  now  became,  in 
many  instances,  the  leaders  of  public  opinion,  and  in  the 


11 

anarchy  which  must  necessarily  have  ensued,  all  sorts  of 
wild  fire,  mingling  with  the  flame  of  newly  kindled  piety, 
burned  unchecked  till  it  became  uncontrollable.* 

Far  be  it  from  me  to  approve  the  disorders  and  irregular- 
ities which  attended  that  wonderful  excitement.  There  was 
unquestionably  much  everywhere  which  the  serious  Christ- 
ian must  and  ought  to  deplore.  But  what  is  the  chaff  to 
the  wheat  ?  The  legitimate  leaders  in  the  sacramental 
host  of  God?s  elect  had  declined  their  trust.  The  battle 
was  for  the  inheritance,  transmitted  from  the  worthiest  of 
fathers, — the  inheritance  of  puritan  faith,  dearest  of  all 
others  to  the  genuine  New  Englander.  It  was  not  so 
much  a  revolution,  as   a  restoration,  that  they  were  now 

*  The  evils  likely  to  result  from  the  encouragement  of  ignorant  laymen 
and  youth  destitute  of  all  proper  experience,  to  usurp  the  functions  of  the 
Christian  ministry,  were  early  foreseen  and  predicted  by  some  of  the  most 
eminent  promoters  of  the  revival.  But  they  had  greater  evils  of  an  oppo- 
site character  to  contend  with,  and  this  fact  neutralized,  in  a  great  degree, 
the  influence  of  their  admonitions.  It  is  well  known  to  all  who  are  famil- 
iar with  those  times,  that  a  prominent  subject  of  controversy  was  the 
necessity  of  an  educated  ministry.  The  revival  party  insisted  that  grace 
in  the  heart  is  of  more  importance  than  learning  in  the  head  ;  and  their 
opposers,  on  the  other  hand,  so  magnified  the  importance  of  human  learn- 
ing, as  to  cast  into  the  shade  that  of  personal  piety.  Both  were  partly 
right  and  partly  wrong.  It  must  be  said,  however,  in  favor  of  those  who 
seemed  to  despise  education  in  their  zeal  for  personal  religion,  that,  of  the 
two,  they  were  contending  for  by  far  the  more  important  point.  It  was 
the  point  likewise  which,  for  a  considerable  time  previous,  had  been  most 
neglected.  Had  all  the  educated  ministers  of  the  community  possessed 
the  spirit  of  Colman,  and  Edwards,  and  Sewall,  and  Prince,  no  outcry 
would  have  been  made,  we  may  be  sure,  against  human  learning  in  the 
ministry — certainly  no  disposition  would  have  been  manifested  to  under- 
value it,  as  an  important  collateral  qualification.  But  the  great  dearth  of 
such  men  at  that  important  crisis,  and  on  the  other  hand  the  violent 
opposition  which  the  revival  encountered  from  some,  eminent  for  their 
intellectual  attainments,  produced,  in  many  hasty  minds,  the  impression, 
that  great  learning  is  unfavorable  to  ardent  piety.  Hejice  their  confidence 
was  transferred  to  another  class,  and  the  unskilfulness  of  their  guides  often 
led  them  lamentably  astray. 


12 

to  contend  for,  not  a  conquest,  but  a  recovery,  of  what  had 
been  insidiously  stolen  away,  in  an  hour  of  forgetfulness. 
And  should  the  people  hesitate  ?  In  the  absence  of  their 
regular  leaders,  they  must  lead  themselves.  In  all  their 
ignorance,  they  must  march  on,  with  such  a  degree  of 
regularity  as  mere  soldiers  of  the  rank  and  file  were  able  to 
secure.  Who  can  wonder  that  there  was  little  discipline 
among  them  ?  Who  can  wonder  that  the  lawless  mingled 
in  their  ranks,  and  obtained  at  times  a  temporary  ascend- 
ancy ?  Who  can  wonder  that  the  best  disposed  among 
them  were  chargeable  with  many  things,  which  their 
posterity  must  censure,  and  which  they  themselves,  when 
they  had  time  for  calm  review,  had  occasion  to  deplore  ? 

The  prevailing  spirit  of  that  movement,  was,  we  may 
not  doubt,  that  of  living  Christianity.  There  was,  truly, 
as  those  engaged  in  it  believed,  a  glorious  work  of  divine 
grace  upon  the  hearts  of  individuals,  and  a  glorious  refor- 
mation accomplished  in  the  Church  at  large.  Great  princi- 
ples, long  withdrawn  from  notice,  and  almost  sunk  into 
oblivion,  were  restored  to  their  ancient  supremacy.  The 
faith,  practice  and  experience  of  the  puritans  was  re- 
vived. Religion  flourished  again.  And  as  for  the 
disorders,  which  unhappily  attended  its  resuscitation,  these 
were  soon  made  to  disappear  before  the  power  of  intelligent 
and  sober  piety. 

In  the  general  excitement,  the  people  of  Newbury,  it 
appears,  largely  participated.  How  far  the  Churches  here, 
with  their  pastors,  had  become  infected  with  the  prevailing 
degeneracy,  it  may  not  be  easy  at  the  present  day  exactly 
to  determine.  Within  the  bounds  of  what  is  now  included 
in  the  towns  of  Newbury  and  Newburyport,  there  were 
then  existing  two  Congregational  parishes,  called  the  first 
and  third  parishes  in  Newbury  ;  now  the  first  in  Newbury 
and  the  first  in  Newburyport. 


13 

The  pastor  of  the  first  Church  in  Newbury  was  then 
advanced  in  life,  and  of  a  peculiar  temperament.  He  set 
his  face,  from  the  beginning,  sternly  against  the  new 
movement.  The  promoters  of  it,  he  did  not  hesitate  to 
address  by  the  opprobrious  epithet  of  "  Schemers,"  and 
"New  Schemers,"  which  their  adversaries  had  applied  to 
them.  He  told  them  to  their  face,  that  he  presumed,  they 
had  been  inventing  falsehoods  against  him,  for  said  he,  "  I 
never  yet  knew  a  schemer  that  would  not  lie."  The  name 
of  "  new  light  men,"  sometimes  given  them,  he  admitted 
might  be  applicable,  for  he  continued,  "  Satan  being  now 
especially  transformed  into  an  angel  of  light,  hath  trans- 
formed his  followers  into  his  likeness,  in  regard  of  the  new 
light  they  pretend  unto."  He  even  suffered  himself,  it  is 
said,  on  one  occasion,  to  become  so  excited,  as  to  arm 
himself  with  a  whip,  under  his  cloak,  when  he  went  into 
the  house  of  God,  to  scourge  out  the  enthusiasts,  as  he  called 
them,  from  the  sacred  precincts.* 

The  other  Church  had  been  gathered  only  about  fifteen 
years,  when  the  work  began,  and  was  supplied  with  a 
pastor,  learned,  mild,  serious,  and  evidently  disposed  to  be 
faithful,  beyond  the  ordinary  practice  of  his  day,  in  the 
promotion  of  serious  piety.  A  single  note,  inserted  in  the 
Church  records,  may  serve  to  illustrate  his  spirit.  After 
recording  a  vote  of  the  Church,  the  design  of  which  was  to 
adopt  measures  for  the  advancement  of  their  own  piety  and 
religious  influence,  he  gives  vent  to  his  own  feelings  in  the 
following  devout  ejaculation  :  "  God  grant  success  to  us  in 
this  affair,  and  by  his  holy  spirit  lift  up  a  standard  against 

*It  seems  proper,  to  observe  here,  that  the  Rev.  Christopher  Toppan, 
above  referred  to,  was  supposed  to  be  laboring,  at  times,  under  a  partial 
derangement  of  intellect.  The  peculiar  turn,  however,  which  his  insanity 
seems  to  have  taken,  in  the  above  instances,  is  significant  of  the  state  of 
the  times,  and  of  the  difficulties  under  which  those  who  afterwards  separ- 
ated from  his  Church  were  compelled  to  labor. 

2 


14 

vice  and  profaneness,  and  revive  dying  religion  among  us//,# 
At  what  precise  time  the  new  impulse  communicated 
itself  to  the  people  here,  and  by  what  mentis,  I  am  not  able 
to  state  confidently.  Before  the  arrival,  however,  of  the 
first  itinerant  preacher  in  this  place,  the  records  of  the  third 
Church,  now  the  first  in  Newburyport,  give  evidence  of  an 
unusual  interest  in  religious  matters,  in  the  admission  to  its 
communion  in  one  year,  of  forty-four  persons,  a  greater 
number,  as  the  pastor  himself  then  supposed,  than  was 
ever  known  to  have  been  received  in  any  Church  in  the 
province,  in  the  same  space  of  time.f 

In  the  autumn  of  the  year  seventeen  hundred  and  forty, 
George  Whitefield  made  his  first  visit  to  New  England.  He 
arrived  in  Boston  on  Thursday  evening,  September  the 
eighteenth,  at  eight  o'clock,  and  remained  there,  preaching 
in  the  various  Churches,  about  ten  days,  when  he  set  out 
on  an  excursion  to  the  Eastward,  He  reached  Newbury 
in  the  afternoon  of  September  the  thirtieth,!  and  preached 
once  in  the  house  of  worship  belonging  to  the  third  parish 

*  The  measures  above  alluded  to,  were  the  annual  appointment  of  seven 
brethren  of  the  Church,  to  be  "joined  with  the  pastor  and  the  honored 
justices  belonging-  to  it,"  to  meet  once  a  month  and  "  consider  what  might 
be  done  for  the  good  of  the  town  in  general,  and  the  Churches  in  it,"  or,  as 
the  object  is  expressed  in  another  place,  "  to  consider  what  may  be  done  to 
revive  dying  religion  among  us,  suppress  vice,  and  promote  the  peace  and 
welfare  of  the  Church."  At  the  same  meetincr  the  Church  voted  to  meet 
once  a  quarter  "and  renew  their  covenant  with  God  and  one  another." 

t  This  is  stated  on  the  authority  of  Mr.  Lowell,  himself,  in  a  letter  to  the 
arrorrieved,  now  on  file  in  the  State  House.  But  the  Church  records  show 
that,  during  the  year  immediately  succeeding  the  great  earthquake  in 
17vJ7,  which  excited  so  much  terror  every  where  in  this  region,  one  hun- 
dred and  forty-one  persons  were  admitted  to  the  same  Church. 

t  Coffin  states,  in  his  history  of  Newbury,  on  the  authority  of  Mr. 
Williams'  historical  sermon,  that  Whitefield  first  came  to  this  town  Sep- 
tember 10th.  This  is  a  mistake.  He  had  not  then  reached  Boston  on 
his  way  from  the  South. 


15  i 

the  Rev.  Mr.  Lowell's,  then  situated  on  what  is  now  caller 
Market  Square.  His  own  notice  of  the  event  is  as  follows: 
u  The  Lord  accompanied  the  word  with  power.  The 
meeting-house  was  very  large,  many  ministers  were  pres- 
ent, and  the  people  were  greatly  affected.  Blessed  be  God. 
His  divine  power  attends  us  more  and  more."  Whitefiek 
proceeded  on  his  journey  as  far  as  York,  Maine ;  ane 
returning,  preached  at  Newbury  again,  on  Saturday,  Octo- 
ber the  fourth ;  when  a  collection  amounting  to  eighty 
pounds  and  nine  shillings,  was  taken  up  in  behalf  of  the 
orphan  house  which  he  was  then  establishing  in  Georgia. 
In  the  course  of  the  next  winter,  the  hardly  less  famon.- 
Gilbert  Tennent  paid  a  visit  to  Newbury.  On  the  seventl 
of  January,  as  appears  from  a  note  by  Mr.  Lowell  in  th 
records  of  the  third  Church,  he  preached  once  in  private, 
and  on  the  next  day  once  in  public.  A  week  later, 
namely,  on  the  sixteenth  of  the  same  month,  he  was  here 
again,  and  preached  in  public  three  times. 

During  this  period,  and  for  a  considerable  space  of  time 
afterwards,  Mr.  Lowell  appears  to  have  been  regarded  as  s 
friend  to  the  new  movement.  He  made  no  opposition  to 
it.  He  admitted  freely  to  his  pulpit,  or  allowed  the  peopk 
who  desired  it,  to  admit  such  itinerant  and  neighboring 
ministers  as  were  considered  specially  active  in  the  promo- 
tion of  it.  He  became  more  zealous  than  usual  in  his  own 
pastoral  duties,  and  for  a  time  maintained  two  weekly 
lectures,  in  addition  to  his  other  exertions.  The  result  was 
that,  during  the  space  of  one  year  and  six  months  from  thr 
preaching  of  Whiten1  eld  hi  this  place,  one  hundred  and 
forty-three  persons  were  added  to  his  Church,  and  of  these, 
fifty-nine  were  admitted  on  one  particular  occasion,  and 
twenty-seven  on  another,  both  within  the  space  of  one 
month.  The  Church  under  the  care  of  Mr.  Lowell  became 
indeed  the  resort  of  some,  from  the  other  parish,  who  were 


16 

disaffected   towards  their    own  pastor,  on  account  of  his 
opposition  to  the  work. 

Up  to  to  this  time,  namely,  the  last  of  March,  seventeen 
hut  id  red  forty-two,  we  find  no  evidence  of  a  disposition 
among  the  friends  of  the  revival  to  establish  separate 
worship.  But  the  causes  of  dissatisfaction  were  at  work. 
During  the  course  of  the  very  next  month,  signs  of  misun- 
derstanding begin  to  appear,  between  them  and  the  Rev. 
Mr.  Lowell.  The  Messrs.  Rogers,  of  Ipswich,  were  among 
its  most  ardent  supporters,  and  being  men  of  high  standing 
in  the  ministry,  had  probably  found  a  welcome  reception 
here,  as  well  as  others  of  a  similar  stamp.  Near  the  close 
of  April,  Mr.  Buel,*  a  young  preacher  who  had  been 
laboring  with  much  success  at  Northampton,  under  the 
eye  and  with  the  approbation  of  Jonathan  Edwards,  came 
to  Ipswich,  and,  in  company  with  Rev.  Nathaniel  Rogers, 
and  his  brother,  Daniel  Rogers,  then  a  candidate  for  the 
ministry,  visited  Newbury.  Mr.  Lowell  was  absent,  and 
some  of  his  parishioners,  desirous  of.  hearing  these  gen- 
tlemen preach,  took  the  responsibility  of  introducing 
them  into  the  meeting-house  for  that  purpose.  Great 
excitement   was  produced  by  this  act,  and    great   offence 

*  Mr.  Buel  was  a  classmate  of  Rev.  Samuel  Hopkins,  and  a  graduate  of 
Yale  College  at  the  commencement  in  the  preceding  September.  As  was 
not  uncommon  at  that  day,  he  commenced  preaching  very  soon  after  he 
left  College,  and  in  the  latter  part  of  the  following  winter  was  employed 
to  preach  at  Northampton,  in  the  absence  of  Rev.  Jonathan  Edwards. 
Edwards  himself  thus  speaks  of  him  in  a  letter  to  a  clergyman  in  Boston  : 
"  About  the  beginning  of  February,  1742,  Mr.  Buel  came  to  this  town.  I 
was  then  absent  from  home,  and  continued  so  till  about  a  fortnight  after. 
Mr.  Buel  preached  from  day  to  day,  almost  every  day,  in  the  meeting- 
house. I  had  left  him  the  free  use  of  my  pulpit,  having  heard  of  his 
designed  visit  before  I  left  home.  There  were  very  extraordinary  effects 
of  Mr.  Buel's  labors,"  &C.  Hopkins,  who  was  then  residing  in  the  family 
of  Edwards,  speaks  of  him  as  "  a  zealous  preacher  of  the  Gospel,  and  the 
means  of  greatly  reviving  the  people  to  zeal  in  religion/' 


17 

taken,  in  which  the  pastor  himself  seems  to  have  partici- 
pated. Shortly  after,  a  communication  was  inserted  in  a 
Boston  paper,  representing  the  transaction  in  a  very 
reproachful  light ;  as  if  Mr.  Rogers  and  his  associates,  had 
formed  a  party,  and  taken  violent  possession  of  the  meet- 
ing-house, in  the  pastor's  absence.  This  the  friends  of 
those  gentlemen  denied.  The  pastor,  with  his  own 
signature,  confirmed  the  statement.  The  result  of  the 
misunderstanding  was,  that  the  next  day  Mr.  Rogers 
preached  in  the  town-house,  being  now  excluded,  as  it 
appears,  from  both  the  meeting-houses,  and  a  numerous 
audience  there  attended  on  his  preaching. 

What  direct  influence  this  event  may  have  had  on  the 
succeeding  movements  does  not  now  appear.  One  fact  is 
evident,  however ;  that  the  pastor  had,  by  this  time,  seen 
occasion  to  change  his  views  of  the  propriety  of  the  mea- 
sures in  operation.  He  had  complied  with  the  wishes  of 
those  who  were  attached  to  them,  till  the  matter  seemed, 
in  his  judgment,  to  be  going  too  far.  Evening  meetings, 
which  he  had  before  allowed,  he  now  began  to  regard  as 
of  a  dangerous  tendency,  and  therefore  stopped  them. 
Itinerant  preachers,  he  had  permitted  those  of  the  people 
who  desired  to  hear  them,  to  introduce  into  his  pulpit ; 
until,  to  use  his  own  words,  "it  was  plain  that  any  itiner- 
ant, of  whatever  character  for  capacity  and  conduct,  was 
preferred,"  then  he  excluded  them.  Meanwhile,  the  views 
of  that  portion  of  his  people  were  not  changed.  Hence 
they  became  discontented.  The  transaction  just  related, 
it  seems  probable,  was  the  means  of  bringing  matters  to  a 
crisis.  Shortly  after,  we  find  that  measures  were  in 
operation  for  the  erection  of  a  new  place  of  worship.  The 
building  stood  upon  the  North-east  side  of  High  Street, 
between  Federal  and  Lime,  and  was  probably  completed 
before  the  middle  of  February  in  the  following  winter. 
2* 


18 

Meanwhile,  a  young  man  from  the  neighboring  parish  of 
By  field,  Joseph  Adams,  a  graduate  of  the  same  year  at 
Harvard  University,  and  a  very  recent  convert,  began  to 
exhort  and  hold  meetings  in  this  vicinity.  He  was  a  man 
of  great  fervor  and  zeal,  and  having  entered  upon  the  work 
he  had  undertaken  with  all  the  earnestness  of  sincerity, 
and  the  freshness  of  youthful  devotion,  he  charmed  and 
melted  by  his  preaching  the  hearts  of  multitudes,  who 
regarded  him,  in  the  language  of  one  of  his  adversaries, 
as  "some  great  one,  the  mighty  power  of  God."  The 
imprudent  zeal  of  the  young  preacher  led  him  to  commit 
some  indiscretions.  He  fixed  his  eye  upon  the  pastor  of  a 
neighboring  Church, — a  man  whom  he  appears  to  have 
regarded  as  peculiarly  deficient  in  ministerial  qualifications, 
— and  with  the  view  of  dealing  faithfully  with  his  soul, 
addressed  a  letter  to  him,  full  of  severe  reproof,  plainly 
intimating  that  he  had  never  been  converted,  calling  him 
"an  opposer  of  this  blessed  reformation/'  and  ending  with 
the  hope,  that  "  God  would  either  convert  him  or  turn  him 
out  of  the  ministry,"  and  the  prayer,  "O  that  God  would 
bless  this  letter  to  your  conviction."  This  letter,  which 
appears  to  have  been  intended  as  a  private  one,  the  receiver 
immediately  published,  together  with  a  long  answer,  in 
which  the  "arrogant  young  man"  is  chastised  with  no 
little  severity.  Notwithstanding  this,  however,  the  confi- 
dence of  the  friends  of  the  young  preacher  appears  to  have 
remained  unabated,  and  when  the  new  meeting-house  was 
completed,  which  was  about  the  beginning  of  the  year 
seventeen  hundred  and  forty-three,  Mr.  Adams  was  em- 
ployed as  the  stated  preacher. 

A  large  number  from  each  of  the  two  parishes  now 
withdrew  from  their  former  places  of  worship,  and  attended 
on  Mr.  Adams'  ministrations.  He  continued  to  oliiciate 
for  this  collection  of  "separatists,"  as  they  now  began  to 


19 

be  called,  with  more  or  less  constancy,  more  than  two 
years,  until  a  Church  was  formed,  as  we  shall  presently 
have  occasion  to  notice.* 

It  seems  proper,  that  we  should  pause  here,  and  inquire 
for  what  reasons  the  separation  just  referred  to  was  made. 
Fortunately  we  have  the  parties'  own  statements,  which 
will  furnish  the  best  exposition  of  their  views. 

The  separatists  from  the  first  Church,  of  whom,  there 
were,  in  the  first  instance,  about  thirty  male  members, 
complained  of  their  pastor,  the  Rev.  Christopher  Toppan, 
that  he  had  departed  from  the  ancient  faith  in  several 
important  particulars,  and  especially,  that  he  had  strenu- 
ously opposed  himself,  to  what  they  regarded  as  "  the 
glorious  work  of  God  in  convincing  and  converting  great 
numbers  in  our  land,  of  late,  and  especially  among  us,"  and 
had  called  it  i:  all  a  delusion  of  Satan." 

The  separatists  from  the  third  Church,  thirty-eight  male 
members  with  their  families,  expressly  disavowed  the  design 
of  fixing  upon  their  pastor,  the  Rev.  John  Lowell,  the 
charge  "of  false  doctrine,  or  what  is  generally  called  an 
immoral  life."  They  admit  that  his  preaching  was  not 
displeasing  to  them,  "  in  a  time  of  great  deadness  in  reli- 
gion, a  time  when  (as  we  think)"  say  they,  -both  the  wise 
and  foolish  virgins  were  slumbering  and  sleeping."  But 
since  the  great  work  of  divine  grace  had  commenced  among 
them,  many,  especially  of  those  who  had  shared  in  it,  had 

*  Mr.  Adams  was  afterwards  settled  in  Stratham,  N.  H.,  where  he  died 
at  an  advanced  age,  leaving  behind  him,  as  a  friend  informs  me,  the  repu- 
tation of  a  "  remarkably  good  man."  The  evidence  that  he  remained  here 
as  long  as  above  stated,  is  to  be  found  in  a  letter  from  Mr.  Parsons,  then 
at  Lyme,  addressed  to  Charles  Pierce,  Esq.,  and  Dr.  Sawyer.  He  says,  in 
the  postscript,  "  I  hope  you  will  treat  dear  Mr.  Adams,  your  present 
preacher,  with  respect  and  confidence.  He  is  a  man  whom  I  love  in  the 
Lord,  and  I  believe  he  has  been  very  serviceable  to  the  cause  of  Christ 
among  you."     This  letter  is  dated  April  18,  1745. 


20 

become  dissatisfied.  They  complain  that  he  had  of  late 
shown  himself  "  cold  and  strange"  towards  the  promoters 
of  the  late  happy  "  reformation  in  the  land," — "at  this  day 
as  yon  are  pleased  to  express  it  (to  onr  sorrow)  only  of 
'temptation.'  But  we  think,  in  honor  to  the  Holy  Spirit, 
it  deserves  to  be  called  a  day  of  illumination  as  well  as 
temptation."  Meanwhile,  they  complain,  your  own  preach- 
ing was  "not  so  suitable  to  our  experience  as  we  wished 
and  longed  for."  His  discourses  seemed  to  them  not 
sufficiently  explicit  and  frequent,  on  the  subject  of  mams 
native  depravity,  and  inability,"  "the  way  of  salvation  by 
the  merits  of  Christ,"  "the  work  of  the  Holy  Spirit,"  and 
"  the  bringing  the  sinner  off  from  his  own  righteousness, 
to  rely  entirely  on  Christ's  righteousness."  They  wished 
the  terrors  of  the  law  to  be  set  forth  in  a  more  lively 
manner,  and  the  sermons  to  be  "  pressed  home  and  pun- 
gent," and  the  preacher  himself  to  be  "more  zealous, 
constant,  and  fervent,  in  this  weighty  cause  of  gaining 
souls  to  the  kingdom  of  God."  They  do  not  complain, 
indeed,  that  they  have  had  nothing  of  this  class  of  instruc- 
tions, but  they  think  they  have  had  far  too  little  of  it, 
"especially  considering  the  present  day."  "And  then," 
they  continue,  "  when  you  were  upon  such  subjects  as 
fairly  led  you  to  speak  close,  and  clear,  and  distinct,  to  our 
case,  you  seemed  to  us  to  glance  over  or  but  hint  at  them, 
in  such  generals,  as  did  not  reach  our  case."  "  And  then 
the  improvement,  which  we  consider  the  life  and  soul  of  a 
sermon,  seemed  to  us  to  go  all  over,  without  touching  us." 
Could  they  have  had  such  preaching,  as  in  their  view  was 
essential  to  their  spiritual  welfare,  in  season  and  out  of 
season,  cither  by  the  pastor  himself,  or  by  his  heartily 
admitting  and  forwarding  the  efforts  of  such  other  Orthodox 
ministers  as  would  preach  in  that  manner,  accompanied  by 
corresponding  pastoral  efforts  on  his  part,  they  would  never 


21 

have  thought,  they  say,  of  separating  from  him.  The 
want  of  these,  and  the  like  privileges,  led  them  to  with- 
draw. 

The  irregularity  of  the  proceedings  of  these  "  aggrieved 
brethren,"  in  withdrawing  from  public  worship  and  ordi- 
nances in  their  own  Churches,  and  establishing  for 
themselves  separate  worship,  without  first  obtaining  a 
regular  dismission,  demands,  in  justice  to  them,  an  attentive 
and  discriminating  consideration.  They  had  had,  as  they 
affirm,  repeated  conferences  with  their  pastors  on  the  sub- 
ject, until  one  of  these  -'declared  he  would  talk  no  more 
with  them,''  and  the  other,  though  often  appraised  of  their 
desire  to  withdraw,  and  their  wish  for  a  Church  meeting 
in  the  case,  had  sufficiently  indicated  his  unwillingness  to 
do  anything  to  forward  their  wishes.  Indeed  the  policy 
of  the  pastors,  at  that  period,  seems  to  have  been,  to  call 
no  Church  meetings,  and  have  no  Church  action  on  the 
subject  of  existing  difficulties.  One  of  them  states  explic- 
itly, that  he  should  have  called  such  a  meeting,  were  it  not 
that  he  "  had  abundant  reason  to  fear,  the  heats  and 
annimosities  among  us  might  prevent  our  acting,  at  the 
meeting  of  the  Church,  with  wisdom  and  for  the  honor  of 
Christ."  Of  course,  the  power  of  calling  Church  meetings 
being  then  considered  as  lodged  exclusively  in  the  hands 
of  the  pastors,  it  was  impossible  for  the  aggrieved  brethren, 
in  existing  circumstances,  to  obtain  a  regular  hearing. 

As  to  building  the  meeting-house,  and  commencing 
public  worship  in  it  before  asking  a  formal  leave  so  to  do  ; 
which  was  sometimes  alleged  as  an  irregularity ;  they 
supposed  they  had  the  best  of  precedents  in  their  favor. 
The  house  in  which  Mr.  Lowell  officiated,  had  been  built, 
it  seems,  without  any  such  leave  given  by  the  first  Church 
and  parish,  and  the  persons  afterwards  organized  as  the 
third  Church,  had    not    been  dismissed  for  that  purpose, 


)7 


until  a  considerable  time  after  the  house  was  built,  and 
there  was  stated  preaching  in  it.  And  yet  no  offence  had 
been  taken, — none  regarded  it  as  an  irregularity. 

It  is  plain  however,  that  the  aggrieved  earnestly  desired, 
and  were  determined  to  secure,  if  possible,  some  distinct 
action  of  their  own  Churches  on  the  case  in  hand.  When 
they  separated,  it  was  evidently  with  the  earnest  hope,  that, 
by  a  decisive  stroke,  the  Churches  would  be  brought  to  a 
direct  and  regular  cognizance  of  their  affairs. 

But  the  pastor  of  the  third  Church,  though  for  the  sake 
of  peace,  he  would  call  no  regular  meeting,  does  not  seem 
to  have  been  unmindful  of  the  exigencies  of  that  trying 
crisis.  On  the  first  day  of  May,  say  the  Church  records, 
"after  the  administration  of  the  Lord's  supper,  just  before 
the  blessing  was  pronounced,  the  pastor  read  to  the  Church 
what  follows  :  "  Brethren,  vou  are  all  sensible  of  the  great 
schism  that  has  been  made  in  this  Church,  and  that  a 
considerable  number  of  persons,  under  the  watch  and  care 
of  this  Church,  have  withdrawn  from  our  communion  in 
the  word  and  ordinances,  in  breach  of  their  solemn  vows 
and  covenant  engagements  ;  and  I  think  it  my  duty,  as  your 
pastor,  to  move  to  you  that  we  keep  a  day  of  fasting  and 
prayer  upon  this  sad  occasion,  and  seek  God's  special 
direction  for  the  healing  of  our  divisions."'  The  day  was 
agreed  upon  and  observed  accordingly.  "  The  same  day," 
records  the  pastor,  somewhat  mournfully,  "  the  separatists 
held  a  public  assembly  in  Mr.  John  Brown's  barn,  in  Mr. 
Toppan's  parish,  at  which  deacon  Beck,"  one  of  his  own 
deacons,  "was  present." 

The  aggrieved  brethren,  now  perceiving  no  probability 
that  the  Church  intended  to  take  any  steps  towards  a 
regular  hearing  of  their  case,  by  calling  them  to  an  account 
for  their  withdrawing,  began  themselves  to  move,  by  a 
formal  application,  for  a  Church  meeting. 


23 

On  the  thirty-first  day  of  October,  those  belonging  to 
the  third  Church  addressed  their  pastor,  in  the  following 
communication  :  "  We,  the  subscribers,  brethren  of  the 
third  Church  in  Newbury,  beg  your  compliance  with  this 
our  desire  in  calling  a  Church  meeting,  that  we  might  lay 
before  them  the  reasons  of  our  withdraw,  and  also  our 
desire  of  a  dismission  from  your  particular  Church,  in 
order  to  be  gathered  into  a  Congregational  Church  agree- 
able to  the  word  of  God."  This  was  signed  by  the  names 
of  thirty-two  male  members  of  the  Church.  The  pastor 
replied,  expressing  his  regret,  that  "  in  this  day  of  tempta- 
tion," they  had  been  so  unmindful  of  their  covenant  vows 
as  to  have  separated  from  the  communion  of  the  Church. 
He  declines  calling  the  Church  meeting,  until  they  are 
more  explicit  in  stating  their  grievances  ;  for,  says  he, 
"  they  may  be  such,  for  aught  I  know,  as  to  contain  some 
charges  against  me  (though  I  fear  none)  or  some  other 
particular  person," — in  which  event  he  would  have  them 
pursue  private  measures, — ■"  or  they  may  be  such  as  I 
ought  not,  as  pastor,  to  lead  the  Church  to  consider  of." 

The  aggrieved  next  addressed  a  communication  to  the 
pastor  and  Church  jointly.  It  commences  with  the 
following  frank  and  honorable  confession :  "  We,  the 
subscribers,  having  withdrawn  from  communion  with  this 
Church,  are  convinced,  that  in  not  laying  before  you  the 
reasons  of  our  withdrawing  before  we  actually  did  with- 
draw, we  have  erred,  we  heartily  acknowledge  it,  and  ask 
your  forgiveness  therefor."  They  then  proceed  to  state, 
generally,  that  they  are  not  edified  by  the  pastor's  minis- 
trations, and  again  they  earnestly  desire  to  be  dismissed, 
peaceably  and  amicably,  to  be  formed  into  a  Congregational 
Church.  To  prevent  mistakes,  about  their  views  of  reli- 
gious truth,  they  take  care  to  add:  "  To  your  satisfaction, 
we  think,  we  can  heartily  and  unreservedly  subscribe  and 


24 

concur  with  the  well  known  body  of  Divinity  among  you 
called  the  Assembly's  Catechism." 

Instead  of  laying  this  communication  before  the  Church, 
according  to  its  obvious  intent,  the  pastor  proceeded  to 
answer  it.  His  reply  is  (in  some  parts  of  it)  a  little 
pungent.  "Whether  my  preaching,"  he  says,  "be  as 
much  for  your  soul's  benefit  and  spiritual  edification  as 
that  of  others,  and  particularly  Mr.  Adams's,  whom  you 
generally  hear,  would  be  somewhat  odd  for  me  to  deter- 
mine." lie  still  hopes,  however,  that  he  can  satisfy  them, 
if  they  will  give  him  a  more  full  and  explicit  account  of 
their  grievances,  intimates  that  the  Church  will  not  be 
willing  to  dismiss  them,  while  they  are  not  in  charity  with 
the  pastor,  and  have  not  given  him  the  reasons,  and  finally 
proposes  to  have  another  day  of  fasting  and  prayer  in 
reference  to  the  matter. 

The  aggrieved  brethren  now  took  their  turn  to  be  severe. 
"  As  to  breach  of  vows,"  they  sa}r,  "and  all  that  respects 
that  on  our  part,  we  think  we  have  sufficiently  acknowl- 
edged, and  asked  your  forgiveness  therefor."  They  retort 
the  charge.  The  Church  is  bound,  they  say,  to  call 
offenders  to  an  account.  And  if  they  were  regarded  as 
offenders,  it  was  a  breach  of  covenant  vows  to  neglect  to 
take  cognizance  of  their  case.  They  repeat  their  request 
for  a  Church  meeting.  They  see  no  probability  of  remov- 
ing the  difficulties  by  private  conference,  for  they  have 
repeatedly  waited  upon  the  pastor,  both  as  committees  and 
as  private  persons,  and  without  success.  They  complain, 
that  they  have  been  ill-treated  in  the  matter.  They  think 
they  shall  not  make  many  more  attempts  of  a  like  nature, 
unless  they  have  a  better  prospect  of  success.  In  this 
letter,  the  aggrieved  set  forth,  in  detail,  the  reasons  of  their 
dissatisfaction,  and  request  particularly  that  the  whole 
should  be  read  to  the  Church.     The  pastor  replied  in  a 


25 

long  letter,  going  over  the  whole  ground  and  intimating, 
that  "  the  Church  will  not  be  likely  to  receive  their  acknowl- 
edgement, while  they  still  refuse  to  hold  communion  with 
them."*    . 

At  length,  however,  the  Church  met.  The  result  was 
such  as  the  pastor  had  anticipated.  Having  heard  the 
request  of  aggrieved  brethren,  and  their  reasons,  the  Church 
voted,  "  1st,  That  the  separate  brethren  did,  by  their  with- 
draw, so  long  before  they  offered  any  reasons,  give  the 
Church  just  cause  to  be  offended.  2d,  That  the  Church 
had  not  received  satisfaction."  At  an  adjourned  meeting 
it  was  farther  voted, — "  1st,  That  the  separating  brethren 
had  no  right  to  vote  in  the  case  then  pending.  2d,  That 
the  reasons  given  by  the  brethren  withdrawn  from  com- 
munion, were  not  sufficient  to  justify  their  separation,  or 
for  this  Church  to  grant  them  a  dismission.  3d,  That  a 
Committee  be  appointed  to  prepare,  in  the  name  of  the 
Church,  an  admonition  to  the  brethren  of  the  separation. 
4th,  That  if  the  separate  brethren  shall  slight  the  admoni- 
tion, which  shall  be  given  them,  to  return  to  communion, 
this  Church  will,  in  due  time,  proceed  to  such  further 
censure,  as  is  directed  in  the  Gospel."     The  votes  were 

*  The  above  intimation,  unquestionably,  contains  the  real  reason  why 
the  truly  manly  and  Christian  confession  of  the  aggrieved  brethren  was 
not  received  as  an  ample  reparation  of  all  past  irregularities.  The  true 
head  and  front  of  their  offending,  was  their  determination  not  to  return  to 
the  Church  and  parish.  The  acknowledgement  was  never  made  a  matter 
of  Church  record.  The  legal  disabilities  under  which  that  society  after- 
wards suffered,  requiring  them  to  lay  before  the  Legislature  of  the 
Commonwealth  the  original  documents  of  their  early  transactions,  was, 
in  the  providence  of  God,  the  only  means  of  preserving  it  from  oblivion. 
Many  years  afterwards,  however,  when  the  heat  of  party  feeling  had 
subsided,  this  very  confession,  retained  in  the  memory  only  of  certain  of 
the  members,  was  accepted  by  the  Church  as  a  sufficient  ground  on  which 
to  receive  back  into  its  fellowship  one  of  those  who  had  signed  it,  and  was 
now  disposed  to  return  to  his  old  relations. 

3 


26 

passed  by  a  very  small  majority,  sixty-nine  voting  against 
sixty-five,  the  latter,  however,  including  the  aggrieved 
themselves.  This  took  place  on  the  14th  of  February, 
1744.  Shortly  afterwards,  the  Committee  having  prepared 
the  admonition,  the  Church  summoned  the  offending 
brethren  to  appear  on  a  given  Lord's  day,  at  the  close  of 
divine  service,  to  receive  it.  As  might  naturally  have  been 
expected  from  men  who  had  conscientiously  maintained 
separate  worship  more  than  two  years,  the  accused  were 
not  found  in  attendance  on  the  Lord's  day,  at  the  close 
of  divine  service  in  the'  third  parish.  And  the  Church 
not  thinking  it  proper  to  proceed  farther,  at  this  time,  left 
the  whole  matter,  without  any  farther  action,  nearly  two 
years. 

Meanwhile,  the  disaffected  in  the  other  parish  had  not 
remained  idle.  Having  been  repulsed  in  their  attempts  at 
private  conference  with  the  pastor,  with  the  declaration, 
that  he  would  talk  no  more  with  them,  they  proceeded, 
according  to  his  suggestion,  to  prepare  a  written  statement 
of  their  grievances,  among  which,  besides  the  points  already 
mentioned,  is  the  neglect  to  call  the  complainants  them- 
selves to  an  account  for  withdrawing  from  communion 
with  the  Church. #  The  letter,  containing  this  statement, 
was  read  to  the  Church  on  the  Lord's  day,  but  no  action 
was  had  on  the  subject.  After  waiting,  between  four 
or  five  weeks,  the  aggrieved  addressed  a  second  letter  to 
the  pastor,  assuring  him  that  the  matters  complained  of 
were   matters  of  great  grief  to  themselves,  and  earnestly 

*  This  written  statement  being  prepared,  and  not  yet  presented,  a  copy 
of  it  was  demanded  by  the  pastor,  that  he  might  lay  the  charges  contained 
in  it  before  the  Superior  Court,  then  about  to  hold  its  session  at  York 
Perhaps  the  intimation  or  threat  here  given,  may  serve  to  account,  in  part, 
for  the  backwardness  sometimes  manifested  by  the  complainants  to  prepare 
written  statements  of  their  grievances. 


27 

entreating  him  seriously  to  consider  them,  and  give  the 
complainants  reasonable  satisfaction  ;  or  otherwise  to  concur 
with  them,  in  calling  a  council  of  the  Churches,  to  hear 
their  grievances,  that  so  an  end  might  be  put  to  the  unhappy 
controversy.  This  communication  met  the  same  fate  with 
its  predecessor.  Again  the  aggrieved  addressed  the  bretliren 
of  the  Church,  and  entreated  them  to  take  the  matter  into 
serious  consideration.  The  letter  was  read,  as  the  others 
had  been,  on  the  Lord's  day,  together  with  the  pastor's 
answer.  But  no  vote  was  taken,  no  meeting  for  business 
appointed,  and  no  copy  of  the  answer  sent  to  the  aggrieved. 
Application  for  a  copy  of  it  was  made,  but  the  request  was 
refused.  The  pastor  also  distinctly  refused  to  call  a 
meeting  of  the  Church.  Once  more,  an  attempt  was  made 
to  bring  the  brethren  of  the  Church  together,  for  a  personal 
conference,  but  the  attempt  failed. 

The  aggrieved  now  resorted  to  a  Council.  It  was 
convened  on  the  eighth  day  of  November,  seventeen  hundred 
and  forty-three.  On  the  third  day  of  its  session,  the  pastor, 
with  the  advice  of  some  of  the  principal  members  of  the 
Church,  addressed  a  letter  to  the  moderator,  in  reply  to  a 
communication  from  him,  assuring  him  that  it  had  been, 
and  still  was  his  intention,  as  soon  as  it  might  conveniently 
be  done,  to  call  the  Church  together,  if  the  aggrieved 
desired  it ;  and  that  if  the  matter  could  not  otherwise  be 
settled,  he  was  ready,  with  the  Church,  to  join  with  the 
aggrieved,  in  calling  a  Council,  mutually  chosen,  to  hear 
and  advise  upon  their  difficulties.  Aware  of  the  evils 
attending  all  exparte  decisions  in  ecclesiastical  matters,  the 
Council  advised  the  aggrieved  to  accept  the  overture  of 
their  pastor,  and  if  after  suitable  efforts  they  were  unable 
to  obtain  satisfaction,  then  to  unite  with  him  in  calling  a 
mutual  Council.  And  thereupon  the  first  Council  dis- 
persed. 


28 

After  waiting  a  few  weeks,  and  perceiving  no  movement 
on  the  part  of  the  pastor,  the  aggrieved  again  applied  to 
him,  requesting  the  fulfilment  of  his  promise.  Then  they 
learned,  to  their  surprise,  that,  of  the  mutual  Council  which 
had  been  promised  them,  they  themselves  were  to  choose 
not  a  single  member ;  but  the  Church  must  choose  the 
whole.*  Not  reckoning  at  a  very  high  rate  the  mutuality 
of  a  Council  so  constituted,  the  brethren  made  several 
further  attempts.  The  pastor,  at  one  time,  proposed  to 
leave  the  whole  matter  to  the  Governor  and  Council.  But 
this  the  brethren  did  not  seem  to  think  quite  ecclesiastical. 
Again  he  offered  to  refer  it  to  seven  ministers.  But  this 
reference,  they  perhaps  thought  too  exclusively  clerical. 
Once  more,  he  proposed  a  Council  of  Churches.  But  the 
pastor  was  to  choose  one  third  of  the  members,  the  Church 
one  third,  and  the  aggrieved  the  remainder.  And  as  the 
majority  of  the  Church  was  now  well  understood  to  be  on 
the  pastor's  side,  in  the  matter  in  controversy,  the  aggrieved 
regarded  this  plan  likewise,  as  not  likely  to  produce  an 
impartial  result. 

Wearied  and  disgusted  to  find  themselves  so  repeatedly 
balked,  they  now  resorted  a  second  time  to  an  exparte 
Council.  But  again,  perceiving  some  ground  of  encour- 
agement to  pursue  further  negociations,  they  sent  to  stay 
the  Council  from  assembling  until  further  notice  should 
be  given,     (aj)     Failing   in  this,    they    once  more  sum- 

*  As  far  as  I  am  able  to  judge  of  the  facts  by  a  comparison  of  counter 
statements,  I  am  led  to  conclude  that  the  method  proposed  here  was  this  : 
that  the  pastor  and  the  aggrieved  were  to  nominate,  each  one  half  of  the 
Council,  but  the  Church  would  then  be  free  to  accept  or  reject  the  nomi- 
nations. The  objections  to  this  method  may  be  easily  seen.  The  Church 
was  understood  to  be  a  party  with  the  pastor.  If  they  were  allowed 
to  choose  all  the  members  of  the  Council,  it  would  be  an  easy  matter 
to  exclude  from  it  every  one  of  those  Churches  and  ministers,  (for  they 
were  not  numerous,)  who  were  in  full  sympathy  with  the  aggrieved  in 
their  views. 

t  The  letters  refer  to  the  Appendix. 


29 

moned  the  Councilf  It  consisted  of  eight  Churches,  and 
was  convened  on  the  twenty-fourth  of  July,  seventeen 
hundred  and  forty-four.  The  Church  and  pastor  resolved 
not  to  acknowledge  nor  notice  it.  The  complainants  made 
their  own  representations.  The  Council  obtained  a  copy 
of  the  pastor's  answer  to  the  complaints  alleged,  which  has 
already  been  alluded  to,  and  determined  to  give  it  all  due 
consideration.  In  the  result,  the  complaints  were  sus- 
tained, the  pastor  censured,  and  the  complainants  advised, 
in  case  all  proper  efforts  to  obtain  satisfaction  should  fail, 
"  then  to  seek  more  wholesome  food  for  their  souls,  and 
put  themselves  imder  the  care  of  a  shepherd,  in  whom 
they  could  with  more  reason  confide." 

The  Church  now  proceeded,  on  their  own  part,  to  sum- 
mon a  Council.  Having  selected  the  members,  they 
proposed,  with  great  appearance  of  fairness,  that  the 
aggrieved  should  select  an  equal  number  to  be  joined  with 
them,  and  make  it  a  mutual  Council.  But  in  this  number 
none  of  those  Churches  which  had  been  before  invited, 
could  be  chosen.  And  as  these  were  nearly  all  the  Churches 
in  the  neighborhood,  in  whom  the  aggrieved  had  confi- 
dence, they  very  prudently  declined  the  proposal. 

Another  exparte  investigation  was  of  course  the  conse- 
quence, and  the  result,  as  might  have  been  expected,  was 
exactly  the  reverse  of  the  other. 

One  further  hope  now  remained  to  the  dissatisfied.  The 
pastor  being  aged  and  infirm,  measures  were  about  to  be 
taken  for  the  settlement  of  another  minister.  But  the 
candidate,  whom  the  parish  preferred,  being  no  nearer  to 
their  own  views,  than  his  predecessor,  they  at  length 
determined  to  avail  themselves  of  the  decision  of  their  own 
Council,  and  formally  withdraw  from  the  Church. 

Accordingly,  on  the  twentieth  day  of  December,  seven- 
teen hundred  and  and  forty-five,  about  four  weeks  after  the 
3# 


30 

ordination  of  the  new  pastor,  they  adSressed  a  communi- 
cation to  the  Church,  recapitulating  past  transactions,  and 
concluding  as  follows : 

"  Wherefore,  Brethren,  on  these  considerations,  for  the 
peace  of  our  consciences,  our  spiritual  edification,  and  the 
honor  and  interest  of  religion,  as  we  think,  we  do  now 
withdraw  communion  from  you,  and  shall  look  upon 
ourselves  as  no  longer  subjected  to  your  watch  and 
discipline,  but  shall,  agreeable  to  the  advice  given  us, 
speedily  as  we  may,  seek  us  a  pastor  who  is  likely  to  feed 
us  with  knowledge  and  understanding,  and  in  whom  we 
can  with  more  reason  confide." 

"  And  now,  brethren,  that  the  God  of  all  light  and  truth 
would  lead  both  you  and  us  into  the  knowledge  of  all 
truth,  as  it  is  in  Jesus,  is  and  shall  be  the  desire  and  prayer 
of  your  Brethren,"  &c.  Signed  by  twenty-three  male 
members  of  the  Church. 

I  have  been  particular  in  detailing  these  transactions, 
because  the  separatists  from  both  the  two  Churches  have 
been  charged  with  a  disorderly  separation.  It  will  be  seen. 
I  think,  from  what  has  been  presented,  that  whatever 
irregularity  may  have  attended  their  earlier  movements, 
sufficient  evidence  was  presented,  afterwards,  of  a  disposition 
to  atone  for  past  errors,  and  obtain,  if  possible,  a  regular 
and  orderly  dismission.  Those  belonging  to  the  first 
Church  had  the  decision  of  a  Council  in  their  favor, — an 
exparte  Council  it  is  true,  but  one  which  was  not  resorted 
to,  till  repeated  efforts  for  a  mutual  one  had  been  made  in 
vain.  Those  from  the  third  Church,  perceiving  that  they 
had  acted  hastily  in  the  first  instance,  made  a  frank  and 
cordial  acknowledgement.  And  though  their  urgent 
requests  to  be  dismissed  peaceably,  in  order  to  be  formed 
into  a  new  Church,  had  been  continually  neglected,  they 
still  delayed   taking  the    final   step,  in  hopes  that,   what 


31 

they  looked  upon  as  their  most  sacred  rights,  would  yet  be 
conceded  by  their  brethren.  That  there  was,  by  this  time 
at  least,  a  serious,  settled  and  conscientious  difference  of 
opinion  between  the  two  parties,  demanding  separate 
worship,  few  I  think,  at  this  day,  would  be  disposed  to 
question.  What  the  dissatisfied  brethren,  in  the  first 
Church,  called  "  the  glorious  work  of  God,"  the  pastor  of 
that  Church  felt  compelled  to  denounce  as  "a  delusion  of 
Satan."  What  the  brethren  in  the  third  Church  thought  a 
"  day  of  illumination,"  their  pastor  assured  them  he  must  still 
call  "a  day  of  temptation."  In  these  circumstances,  what 
was  to  be  done  ?  Had  there  been  a  regular  mode  of  relief 
open  to  them,  all  must  admit  that  they  ought  to  have 
pursued  it.  But  the  important  doctrine  of  religious  freedom 
was,  at  that  time,  but  poorly  understood  by  the  Congrega- 
tional Churches  in  this  region. 

The  members  thus  withdrawn  from  the  first  Church, 
now  considered  themselves  at  liberty  to  form  other  ecclesi- 
astical connexions.  Accordingly,  on  the  third  day  of 
January,  seventeen  hundred  and  forty-six,  nineteen  of  the 
twenty-three  brethren  who  had  signed  the  declaration  of 
separation,  were  embodied  into  a  Chinch,  by  affixing  their 
names  to  the  following  mutual  covenant : 

"We,  the  subscribers,  who  were  members  of  the  first 
Church  in  Newbury,  and  have  thought  it  our  duty  to 
withdraw  therefrom,  do  also  look  upon  it  as  our  duty  to 
enter  into  a  Church  estate,  especially  as  we  apprehend  this 
may  be  for  the  glory  of  God,  and  the  interests  of  the 
Redeemer's  kingdom,  and  our  own  mutual  edification 
and  comfort.  We  do,  therefore,  as  we  trust,  in  the  fear  of 
God,  mutually  covenant  and  agree  to  walk  together  as  a 
Church  of  Christ,  according  to  the  rules  and  order  of  the 
Gospel.  In  testimony  whereof,  we  have  hereunto  set  our 
hands  this  third  day  of  January,  Anno  Domino,  seventeen 
hundred  and  forty-six." 


32 

Such,  my  brethren,  was  the  origin  of  this  Church. 
Such  the  motives  which  led  to  its  formation,  and  such  the 
circumstances  under  which  it  was  established.  There  had 
been,  unquestionably,  a  glorious  work  of  divine  grace  in 
the  community.  Along  with  it,  there  had  been  a  large 
developement  of  the  devices  of  Satan, — much  disorder  and 
enthusiasm, — much  uncharitableness  and  wild  fanaticism. 
But  the  chaff  was  now  becoming  separated  from  the  wheat. 
The  prevalence  of  sober  and  correct  views,  over  false  heat, 
was  fast  becoming  apparent.  The  faults  of  the  past  had 
been  acknowledged  and  renounced.  Due  efforts  had  been 
made  to  obtain  an  orderly  release  from  former  ecclesiastical 
relations.  In  the  establishment  of  the  new  Church,  the 
foundations  were  laid  firm  and  deep  in  the  essential  prin- 
ciples of  that  faith  and  order  which  had  been  professed  and 
practised  by  the  earliest  Churches  of  New  England. 

Meanwhile,  the  providence  and  grace  of  God  was  raising 
up,  and  preparing  for  the  work  to  be  assigned  him,  a  pastor 
eminently  qualified  for  the  exigencies  of  the  times,  and  the 
wants  of  this  particular  people. 

The  Rev.  Jonathan  Parsons  was  born  in  Springfield, 
Mass.,  Nov.  30,  1705.  He  was  the  child  of  Christian 
parents,  and  in  his  early  years  was  carefully  educated  in 
the  principles  of  faith  and  piety. 

He  entered  Yale  College  at  the  age  of  twenty,  and  was 
ordained  over  a  Congregational  Church  in  Lyme,  Co^n.,  a 
little  more  than  a  year  after  he  took  his  first  degree.  The 
first  two  years  of  his  ministry  he  preached  Arminian 
principles,  and,  as  he  afterwards  had  reason  to  fear,  was  a 
stranger  to  regenerating  grace.  But  it  pleased  God  to  carry 
him  through  a  severe  mental  conflict,  by  which  his  religious 
views  were  greatly  changed,  and  his  heart,  as  he  ever 
afterwards  believed,  created  anew  in  Christ  Jesus. 

Parsons  was  a  minister  at  Lyme,  during  the  whole  of 


33 

that  remarkable  period,  already  designated  as  the  l:  Great 
awakening."  He  was  a  close  friend  of  Whitefield,  and  often 
entertained  him  at  his  house.  Perhaps  no  man,  if  we 
except  Whitefield,  and  Tennent,  and  Jonathan  Edwards, 
was  more  completely  identified  with  that  wonderful  move- 
ment, than  he. 

He  had  suffered  severe  trials  in  consequence.  Five  or 
six  influential  members  of  his  own  Church,  violently 
opposed  his  ministry.  Efforts  were  made  to  malign  his 
character,  and  the  opposition  at  length  rose  to  such  a  height 
that  he  thought  it  his  duty  to  retire  from  the  sacred  office, 
among  that  people,  and  seek  for  himself  another  place  of 
usefulness. 

It  was  just  at  this  period,  in  the  life  of  Parsons,  that  the 
new  Church  here  was  about  to  be  organized.  The  advice 
of  Whitefield  turned  the  attention  of  the  people  towards 
him  as  a  suitable  person  to  become  their  pastor.  Accord- 
ingly, a  few  days  after  they  had  embodied  themelves 
into  a  Church,  namely,  on  the  seventh  of  January,  seven- 
teen hundred  and  forty-six,  they  invited  him  to  take  the 
oversight  of  them. 

Vigorous  efforts  now  began  to  be  made  to  prevent  the 
consummation  of  the  contemplated  connexion.  The  first 
Church  passed  a  vote  that  it  was  disorderly  to  officiate  as 
a  minister  on  the  Lord's  day,  to  persons  withdrawn  from 
the  neighboring  Churches,  (b)  They  also  voted,  in 
case  he  did  not  desist,  they  would  send  to  Lyme  and 
ascertain  what  misconduct  he  might  be  found  to  be  charge- 
able with.  A  letter  from  one  of  his  most  violent  opposers, 
in  his  former  parish,  was  obtained  and  exhibited  in  various 
ways  to  his  disadvantage.  Even  the  mild  and  prudent 
Lowell  went  so  far  as  to  read,  publicly  from  the  pulpit, 
certain  slanderous  charges,  which  had  chanced  to  come  into 
his  possession,  with  the  express  design  of  warning  the 
people  against  him. 


34 

But  the  people  were  not  so  to  be  discouraged.  They 
had  listened  to  his  defence  and  explanations.  They  had 
read  the  full  and  explicit  recommendation  given  him  by  the 
Council  which  dismissed  him  from  his  former  charge,  (c) 
They  believed  him  to  be,  as  the  event  proved,  eminently 
qualified  for  their  peculiar  exigencies.  They  therefore, 
still  persisted  in  their  determination  to  install  him  over 
them. 

Accordingly,  on  the  nineteenth  of  March,  the  installation 
took  place.  There  was  no  Council  called,  for  it  was 
thought  best,  by  the  most  judicious  friends  of  the  new 
Church,  that  it  should  remain,  for  the  present,  entirely 
independent,  (d)  The  people  assembled  in  the  house 
of  worship,  and  the  pastor  elect  preached  to  them  from 
1  Peter  5:9.  "  Steadfast  in  the  faith."  After  singing  a 
hymn,  he  reminded  the  congregation  of  the  efforts,  which 
had  been  made,  since  his  call  to  become  their  pastor,  to 
traduce  his  ministerial  character ;  and  having  presented  his 
testimonials  for  their  consideration,  proposed  to  them  once 
more  to  decide  whether  it  was  still  their  wish  that  he 
should  be  their  minister.  The  vote  was  taken  by  the  clerk, 
and  passed  unanimously  in  the  affirmative.  (e)  The 
pastor  elect  then  said,  "  In  the  presence  of  God  and  these 
witnesses,  I  take  this  people  to  be  my  people,"  and  the 
clerk  replied,  speaking  in  the  name  of  the  rest,  "  In  the 
presence  of  God  and  these  witnesses,  we  take  this  man  to 
be  our  minister." 

Meanwhile,  they  had  agreed  upon  a  platform  of  Church 
government  and  discipline,  and  adopted  a  confession  of 
faith.  The  form  of  government  was,  at  first,  one  which 
might  properly  be  called  independant  Presbyterian.  The 
difficulties  which  they  had  encountered  in  obtaining  a 
release  from  the  old  Church,  had  made  them  greatly  averse 
to  Congregationalism.     Their  original  platform,  however, 


35 

was  not  intended  to  be  permanent,  but  only  to  be  observed 
for  the  present,  until  they  could  see  their  way  clear  to  form 
other  relations.  It  maintained,  distinctly,  that  the  power  of 
privilege  resides  in  the  brotherhood  at  large,  but,  as  the 
scripture  has  not  explicitly  bound  them  as  to  the  mode  in 
which  it  should  be  exercised,  they  are  at  liberty  to  do  it 
through  a  representative  body  if  they  see  fit.  Such  a  body, 
therefore,  it  required  the  Church  annually  to  appoint ;  and 
with  them  all  the  power  of  discipline  was  to  be  lodged, 
with  this  provision,  that  if  the  elders  so  appointed  should 
be  unable  to  reclaim  an  offender,  they  should  at  last  bring 
the  case  before  the  brotherhood  at  large,  to  advise  what 
should  be  done  further  in  the  case. 

On  the  seventh  of  April  following,  the  organization  of 
the  Church  was  completed  by  the  choice  of  six  ruling 
elders,  and  shortly  after,  negociations  were  commenced 
which  at  length  resulted  in  a  connexion  with  the  presbytery 
oit  Boston, — (/)  the  Church  reserving  one  feature  of 
her  original  constitution  only,  viz :  the  right  to  choose  her 
elders  annually, — aright  which  she  has  steadily  maintained, 
through  ail  changes,  to  the  present  day. 

The  Church  had  now  become,  in  the  full  sense  of  the 
word,  a  Presbyterian  Church.  The  motives  which  led  to 
this  were  partly  an  aversion  to  the  old  system,  for  the 
reason  just  mentioned,  and  partly  a  necessity  which  was 
laid  upon  them  to  become  another  denomination,  in  order 
to  escape  the  absolute  oppression  of  the  Congregational 
discipline,  as  then  conducted.  Strange  as  it  may  seem  to 
some,  who  are  in  the  habit  of  regarding  Presbyterianism  as 
too  rigid,  and  unfriendly  to  popular  rights,  it  was  expressly 
for  the  purpose  of  avoiding  undue  rigidity,  and  in  defence 
of  popular  rights,  that  the  founders  of  this  Church  adopted 
that  form  of  government. 

The  only  exclusive  principle,  which  this  Church  set  up, 


36 

was  that  which  respected  Christian  character  and  soundness 
in  the  faith.  They  often  protested,  that  by  becoming 
Presbyterians  they  had  no  intention  to  withdraw  from 
free  intercourse  with  their  Congregational  brethren.  All 
Churches  who  adhered  to  the  principles  set  forth  in  the 
Assembly  ?s  catechism,  they  stood  ready  at  all  times  to 
welcome  as  brethren,     (g) 

The  Church  being  thus  organized  and  established,  and 
provided  with  an  able  pastor,  the  brethren  in  the  third 
Church,  who  were  in  sympathy  with  them,  sought  once 
more  for  a  dismission,  in  order  to  join  them.  This 
request  was  decisively  denied,  and  the  Church  voted  that 
they  could  not  acknowledge  the  new  Church  as  a  regular 
Church  of  Christ. 

The  dissatisfied  brethren  now  determined  to  retire 
without  a  dismission;  and,  after  long  deliberation,  and 
having  taken  the  advice  of  such  ministers  as  they  thought 
worthy  of  confidence,  the  new  Church  voted  to  recede 
them,  (h)  Thus  the  scattered  bands  were  at  length 
united  into  one  flock,  and  beneath  the  shelter  of  the 
sanctuary  which  then  our  hands  had  erected,  they  sat 
down  together  under  the  watch  of  the  same  spiritual 
shepherd,     (i) 

But  the  trials  of  this  Church  and  congregation  were  but 
just  begun.  A  long  struggle  ensued  to  obtain  exemption 
from  the  exactions  of  the  Congregational  system,  then  by 
law  established.  Application  was  made  to  the  Legislature 
to  be  released  from  taxation  in  the  regular  parishes.  The 
parishes  remonstrated,  and  the  petition  was  denied.  Again 
and  again,  was  the  subject  brought  before  the  General  Court. 
Governor  Shirley,  in  one  instance,  recommended  the  case 
to  its  special  attention.  But  their  neighbors  insisted  that 
they  were  a  misguided  band  who  ought  not  to  be  encour- 
aged.      They   reminded   the    Legislature    that    they    had 


37 

always  been  frowned  upon  by  their  predecessors  in  office, 
and  that  since  being  so  treated,  "  they  had  sought  shelter 
and  relief  under  the  Presbyterian  form,  but  all  in  vain." 
They  more  than  intimated  the  confident  expectation,  that 
they  always  would  continue  to  be  frowned  upon.  And  so 
the  case  proved  during  many  years.  When  the  members 
of  this  congregation  pleaded  conscience  against  the  exac- 
tions which  were  made  upon  them,  they  were  told  that 
what  they  called  conscience,  was  but  avarice.  When  they 
complained,  that  the  burden  was  beyond  their  ability,  they 
were  taunted  with  the  fact  that  they  had  assumed  a 
voluntary  burden,  in  the  establishment  of  their  own  separate 
worship.  When,  in  reliance  on  what  seemed  to  them 
common  justice,  some  of  them  refused  to  pay  what  was 
exacted,  the  officers  of  the  law  seized  upon  their  persons 
and  thrust  them  into  prison.  Repeated  cases  of  this  nature 
are  to  be  found  recorded  in  the  private  journal  of  the  first 
pastor,  in  which,  in  the  face  of  many  indignities,  he  felt 
himself  called  upon  to  visit  the  prison  to  console  his 
suffering  brethren.  The  argument  for  these  coersive  mea- 
sures was  this,  "  the  parish  property  is  pledged  for  the  support 
of  the  parish  minister.  The  English  dissenters  are  obliged 
to  pay  for  the  support  of  the  established  Church,  and  why 
should  you  be  exempted  ?"  True  the  law  had  already 
exempted  Churchmen,  Anabaptists,  and  Quakers.  But  the 
like  privileges  the  poor  Presbyterian  must  not  look  for. 
And  why,  forsooth  ?  Because  he  ought  not  to  be  a  Presby- 
terian. He  should  have  never  separated  from  the  old 
Congregational  parish.  Strange  as  it  may  seem  to  us,  with 
our  present  views  of  religious  liberty,  the  third  parish  in 
Newbury  earnestly  remonstrated  to  the  General  Court, 
against  granting  the  prayer  of  the  petitioners,  on  the 
ground  of  the  evil  consequences  likely  to  ensue  "  from  the 
precedent  of  giving  parish  privileges  to  all  the  various  sects 
in  this  province."  4 


38 

The  oppression  was  so  severely  felt  by  this  society,  that 
they  had  taken  the  preliminary  steps,  at  one  time,  to  have 
their  case  particularly  brought  before  the  King  in  Council. 
They  went  so  far  as  to  obtain  a  written  opinion  of  the 
Attorney  General  in  England,  respecting  the  best  mode  of 
procedure,  and  only  desisted  from  their  purpose  because 
some  judicious  friends  abroad  thought  such  a  representation 
as  they  would  be  obliged  to  make,  might  endanger  the 
charter  of  the  colony,  and  prove  injurious  to  the  interests 
of  the  English  dissenters.  About  this  time,  however,  some 
partial  relief,  but  very  inadequate,  was  granted  them  by  the 
provincial  Legislature.*  It  was  not  till  many  years  after 
this,  that  an  application  from  the  town  of  Newburyport 
procured  for  all  denominations  here,  the  right  to  conduct 
their  own  ecclesiastical  affairs  in  their  own  way. 

Ample  evidence  exists  that  the  members  of  this  society, 
with  their  pastor,  were,  for  many  years,  subjected  among 
their  neighbors,  to  many  indignities.  The  strong  feeling, 
with  which  Parsons  mentions,  in  his  diary,  that  the  town 
clerk,  though  not  a  member  of  his  society,  treated  him 
kindly  when  he  called  upon  him,  shows  how  little  he  was 
in  the  habit  of  expecting,  in  the  way  of  respect  and 
friendship.  The  low  and  vulgar,  in  some  instances, 
reviled  him,  and  pelted  him  with  stones  in  the  street. 

The  subsequent  history  of  this  Church  and  society  I 
must  pass  over  in  the  most  cursory  manner,  for  want  of 
time.  During  the  ministry  of  Mr.  Parsons,  a  period  of 
about  thirty  years,  the  Church  and  society  flourished 
and  increased  greatly.     It  enjoyed  several  very  cheering 

*  A  comparison  of  dates  shows  that  the  partial  relief  above  referred  to, 
must  have  been  wrung  from  the  Legislature,  under  the  fear  that  the  case 
would  otherwise  be  carried  over  to  the  government  of  the  parent  country. 
As  it  was,  the  relief  was  so  stinted,  and  encumbered  with  so  many  condi- 
tions, that  it  proved  rather  the  occasion  of  new  lawsuits,  than  any  very 
substantial  benefit. 


39 

revivals  of  religion,  during  which  many  converts  were 
added  to  the  number  of  the  professed  followers  of  Christ. 
It  was  at  one  of  these  seasons,  in  the  year  1756,  that,  the 
congregation  having  become  too  large  for  the  place  of 
meeting,  the  house  where  we  now  assemble  was  erected. 
(j)  It  was  then  supposed  to  be  one  of  the  largest  in  the 
country,  yet  so  great  was  the  increase  of  numbers  that, 
about  eleven  years  later,  a  plan  was  formed  for  erecting 
another  house  of  worship,  dividing  the  congregation  into 
two  parts,  and  inviting  the  Rev.  James  Sproat,  afterwards 
of  Philadelphia,  to  minister  in  one  of  them  as  colleague 
pastor  wich  the  Rev.  Mr.  Parsons.  This  plan,  however, 
seems  not  to  have  been  prosecuted,     (k) 

The  communion  seasons,  during  this  period,  were  pecu- 
liarly animating  and  delightful.  Parsons  compares  one  of 
them  to  a  similar  season  which  he  had  enjoyed  in  Lyme, 
during  his  ministry  there,  and  which,  in  his  description  of 
the  work  of  grace  given  in  the  Christian  history,  he  had 
called  his  Pentecost.  He  thought  this  even  more  delightful, 
in  some  respects,  than  that  remarkable  occasion.  After  the 
Church  joined  the  Presbytery,  the  practice  of  the  Scotch 
Churches  was  adopted,  namely,  that  of  having  public 
religious  exercises  both  the  day  before  and  the  day  succeed- 
ing the  administration  of  the  Lord's  supper, — a  practice 
which  continued  in  the  Church  many  years.  So  interest- 
ing were  these  seasons,  that  I  have  heard  the  aged  people 
among  us  often  say,  that  crowds  flocked  from  the  whole 
surrounding  region  to  share  in  the  pleasure  and  benefit  of 
the  exercises. 

Mr.  Parsons  was  a  man  eminently  adapted  to  be  at  the 
head  of  such  a  people.  A  fervid  revivalist  of  high  repute, 
he  was,  of  course,  all  they  desired  on  that  head.  Experi- 
enced in  the  dangers  which  attend  all  religious  excitements, 
he  was  prepared  to  furnish  the  most  happy  safe-guards. 


40 

Having  once  imbibed  and  preached  the  looser  form  of 
doctrine,  then  becoming  prevalent  in  many  of  the  Churches, 
he  knew  how  to  discriminate  between  truth  and  error,  and 
raise  the  warning  voice  against  the  first  beginnings  of 
defection.  The  people,  with  some  few  exceptions,  were, 
at  that  time,  exceedingly  ill-informed  in  respect  to  the 
Gospel  system  of  religious  truth,  and  Parsons'  logical 
training  and  thorough  scholarship,  were  eminently  adapted 
to  their  instruction  and  establishment  in  the  faith.  It  was 
a  happy  thing  for  this  Church  and  society  that  it  enjoyed, 
during  so  large  a  portion  of  its  early  trials  and  hazards,  the 
services  of  such  a  man  as  Jonathan  Parsons.     (/) 

During  the  ministry  of  Mr.  Parsons,  this  Church  and  soci- 
ety enjoyed,  in  repeated  instances,  the  services  of  the  elo- 
quent and  devoted  Whitefield,  by  whose  counsels  their  early 
movements  were  in  part  directed,  and  were  at  length,  in 
the  providence  of  God,  indulged  the  mournful  privilege  of 
laying  his  remains  to  rest  beneath  their  own  sanctuary, 
where  they  now  slumber,  awaiting  the  final  resurrection, 
beside  his,  in  whose  hospitable  dwelling,  he  so  often,  during 
his  life-time,  found  a  home. 

The  next  minister  was  the  Rev.  John  Murray.  He  was 
a  native  of  Ireland,  and  received  his  education  in  the 
university  of  Edinburgh.  When  he  came  to  this  country, 
he  was  hardly  twenty-one  years  of  age,  and  shortly  after 
was  settled  as  a  minister  in  the  second  Presbyterian 
Church  in  Philadelphia.  But  he  had  been  guilty  of  a  very 
serious  misdemeanor  in  respect  to  the  signatures  to  his 
credentials,  which  having  at  length  come  to  light,  was 
the  cause  of  his  removal  from  that  city.  He  was  next 
settled  in  Boothbay,  where  a  presbytery,  was  formed, 
called  "  the  presbytery  of  the  eastward,"  of  which  he 
became  the  most  prominent  member.  (m)  Mr.  Par- 
sons had  known  something  of  Mr.  Murray  from  his  first 


41 

arrival,  and  when  the  unfavorable  reports  came  to  be 
circulated,  he  took  special  pains  to  inquire  into  their 
foundation.  The  result  was  a  decided  conviction,  that  the 
faults  committed,  taken  in  connexion  with  his  own  humble 
acknowledgment,  were  not  such  as  justly  to  debar  him 
from  Christian  charity,  or  to  disqualify  him  for  the  exercise 
of  the  ministry.  The  presbytery  of  Boston,  however, 
refused  fellowship  with  Mr.  Murray,  and  it  was  partly  on 
this  account,  that  this  Church,  with  their  pastor,  withdrew 
from  that  presbytery,  and  became  connected  with  the 
presbytery  of  the  eastward. 

Mr.  Murray  was  a  remarkable  preacher.  No  man  drew 
such  crowds  to  hear  him,  or  held  them  in  a  listening 
attitude  so  long.  He  was  active  in  the  promotion  of 
religion  out  of  the  bounds  of  his  own  parish.  Many 
ministers  were  educated  by  the  aid  which  they  received 
from  a  society  of  which  he  was  the  chief  supporter  and 
guiding  spirit.  Many  Churches,  especially  in  the  state  of 
Maine,  owed  their  origin  to  his  influence  and  exertions. 
He  had  his  faults,  unquestionably,  which  marred  his 
usefulness ;  and  the  censure  under  which  he  remained,  in 
the  eyes  of  many,  deprived  the  Church  and  society  of  that 
free  intercourse  which  they  might  otherwise  have  enjoyed 
with  some  of  the  neighboring  Churches  ;  but  his  ministry 
seems  to  have  proved,  on  the  whole,  a  great  blessing,  both 
in  the  conversion  of  sinners,  and  the  edification  of  the 
Church  of  Christ. 

Mr.  Murray  was  first  invited  to  become  colleague  pastor 
with  Mr.  Parsons,  several  years  before  his  decease :  but 
declined  the  application,  among  other  reasons,  on  account 
of  the  cloud  under  which  his  reputation  was  suffering. 
After  the  death  of  Mr.  Parsons  the  application  was  renewed, 
but,  for  various  reasons,  he  still  persisted  in  his  refusal.     It 

was  not  till  after  long  waiting  and  many  discouragements, 

4# 


42 

that  he  was  obtained  to  be  the  minister  of  this  people. 
He  was  settled  here,  without  any  formal  installation,  on 
the  strength  of  a  vote  of  presbytery  to  that  effect,  June 
fourth,  1781,  about  five  years  after  the  death  of  Mr.  Par- 
sons ;  and  continued  in  office,  till  his  own  decease,  March 
13,  1793,  a  period  of  about  twelve  years. 

The  third  pastor  was  the  Rev.  Daniel  Dana.  Previous 
to  his  settlement,  however,  two  successive  divisions  had 
fallen  off  from  the  Church  and  society. 

During  the  latter  days  of  Mr.  Murray,  a  young  mission- 
ary from  Nova  Scotia  came  to  Newburyport,  at  the 
invitation  of  the  pastor  of  the  Church,  to  assist  him  in  the 
administration  of  the  Lord's  supper.  His  talents  were 
peculiar  and  striking.  A  large  portion  of  the  Congregation 
were  delighted  with  him  ;  and  as  Mr.  Murray  was  now 
aged  and  infirm,  desired  to  retain  him  as  their  minister. 
The  majority,  however,  thought  otherwise.  The  result 
was  that  the  adherents  of  the  young  candidate  withdrew, 
to  attend  upon  his  ministrations.  After  the  death  of  Mr. 
Murray,  they  formally  renounced  the  government  of  this 
Church,  and,  having  erected  a  new  house  of  worship,  and 
having  embodied  themselves  into  an  independent  Church, 
took  the  Rev.  Charles  W.  Milton  to  be  their  minister. 
The  result  was  the  establishment  of  a  new  religious  society, 
which  soon  became  one  of  the  largest  in  the  town,  and 
which,  whatever  irregularity  may  have  attended  its  origin, 
has  won  for  itself  an  honorable  place  among  the  Churches 
of  the  Lord  Jesus. 

The  second  separation  took  place  in  connexion  with  the 
settlement  of  Mr.  Dana.  A  portion  of  the  Church  and 
society,  dissatisfied  with  the  candidate  who  had  been 
chosen,  withdrew  and  formed  the  second  Presbyterian 
Church  in  this  town,  and  settled  over  them  the  Rev.  John 
Boddily.     Here,  however,  as   in  the   former  case,  division 


43 

proved  to  be  but  reduplication.  The  new  Church  having 
settled  down  upon  the  principles  of  the  same  faith  and 
order  with  ourselves,  took  the  earliest  opportunity,  after  a 
course  of  years,  to  secure  for  itself  the  services  of  the  very 
same  man,  whom,  in  the  first  instance,  it  had  rejected  ; 
and  for  many  years  it  has  held  sweet  intercourse,  in  holy 
things,  both  with  the  parent  Church,  and  with  its  elder 
sister.  We  rejoice  to  welcome  here,  to-day,  our  brethren 
of  both  these  societies,  and  to  greet  them  as  the  descend- 
ants of  the  same  sires,  whose  worth  we  have  assembled  to 
celebrate. 

Mr.  Dana  was  ordained  November  19,  1794,  and  contin- 
ued in  the  ministry  in  this  Church,  till  he  was  called  to 
take  the  Presidency  of  Dartmouth  College,  in  the  autumn 
of  the  year  1820.  Few  pastors  have  enjoyed,  so  univer- 
sally, the  warmest  affection  of  their  people,  as  Dr. 
Dana,  during  his  ministry  in  this  Church.  The  parting 
scene  was  truly  affecting.  They  yielded  him  up  only  at 
the  call  of  duty,  and  wept  as  children,  when  a  venerated 
and  beloved  parent  is  taken  from  their  head,  (n)  It 
was  during  the  ministry  of  Dr.  Dana,  in  the  year  1802, 
that  the  Church,  by  a  formal  vote,  adopted  the  constitution 
of  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  in 
the  United  States,  reserving  only  its  established  practice  of 
electing  its  elders  annually. 

Several  other  important  changes  were  effected,  likewise, 
during  this  ministry.  The  old  practice  of  giving  out  the 
hymn,  line  by  line,  from  the  deacon's  seat,  was  relinquished, 
for  the  more  decent  method  of  reading  it  connectedly,  from 
the  pulpit.  The  Church,  also,  laid  aside  the  custom  of  a 
protracted  series  of  services  in  connection  with  the  admin- 
istration of  the  Lord's  supper,  maintaining  only  a  prepara- 
tory lecture  on  some  week  day,  and  a  meeting  for  prayer 
on  Saturday  evening,  before  the  communion.     During  this 


44 

ministry,  the  Church  and  society  came  into  freer  fellowship 
with  the  neighboring  Churches,  than  had  been  enjoyed 
previously  :  the  reasons  of  withholding  such  fellowship 
having  now  ceased  to  exist  on  both  sides,  (o)  In  the 
year  1811,  the  first  chapel,  for  the  accommodation  of  the 
Church  and  society  in  their  less  public  religious  exercises, 
was  erected. 

Dr.  Dana's  immediate  successor  was  the  Rev.  Samuel 
Porter  Williams.  He  was  born  in  Weathersfield,  Conn., 
February  22,  1779,  entered  Yale  College  in  1792,  at  the 
age  of  thirteen  years,  and  was  graduated  in  1796.  For  a 
time  he  was  engaged  in  mercantile  employments,  but, 
having  at  length  given  his  heart  to  religion,  he  became  a 
communicant,  in  March,  1803,  and  proceeded  to  prepare 
himself  for  the  gospel  ministry  ;  first  under  the  direction  of 
Dr.  Dwight,  at  New  Haven,  and  then  under  that  of  Dr. 
Howard,  of  Springfield.  He  was  first  settled  in  Mansfield, 
Connecticut,  where  he  remained  several  years.  Two 
years,  he  labored,  with  much  success,  at  Northampton. 
He  was  installed  as  pastor  of  this  Church  and  society  Feb- 
ruary 8,  1821,  and  died   in  the  same  office,  Dec.  23,  1836. 

Mr.  Williams  was  a  man  of  great  energy,  decision,  and 
independence.  W^hat  he  thought,  he  said,  and  as  his  people 
always  knew,  it  was  said  kindly,  though  it  sometimes  cut 
deep,  they  received  it  without  taking  offence.  His  preach- 
ing was  eloquent,  sometimes  ornate,  but  instructive  and 
adapted  to  impress  the  conscience  and  the  heart.  Some 
complained  of  his  style  as  too  involved  and  obscure  ;  but  he 
engaged  the  attention,  awakened  thought  and  enquiry,  and 
was  successful,  it  is  believed,  in  turning  many  to  righteous- 
ness. During  the  ministry  of  Mr.  Williams,  some  ancient 
practices  of  the  Church,  good  in  their  day,  perhaps,  but 
now  grown  obsolete,  and  to  which  some  were  disposed  to 
adhere   with  almost  superstitious    veneration,  were   aban- 


45 

doned.  Among  these,  may  be  mentioned  the  practice  of 
reading  before  the  congregation  a  written  account  of  the 
religious  experience  of  candidates  for  admission  to  the 
Church. 

The  last  public  effort  of  Mr.  Williams  was  on, Thanks- 
giving day,  less  than  one  month  before  his  decease.  His 
pallid  countenance,  and  scarce  supported  form,  gave  a 
powerful  effect  to  his  performance,  as  he  announced  his 
text  from  Isaiah  38 :  18,  19,  20.  "  The  grave  cannot 
praise  thee  ;  Death  cannot  celebrate  thee,"  &c,  and 
proceeded  to  discourse  to  his  people  on  "  the  value  of  life." 
"He  seemed,"  says  the  editor  of  his  discourses,  "like  one 
lifting  up  his  head  from  the  grave,  to  tell  his  people  what 
it  is  that  makes  life  precious  in  the  estimation  of  a  dying 
Christian." 

Mr.  Williams  was  succeeded  in  the  sacred  office  by  the 
Rev.  John  Proudfit,  ordained  October  4,  1827,  and  dis- 
missed, on  account  of  impaired  health,  February,  1833, — 
an  accomplished  scholar,  a  devout  Christian,  and  a  suc- 
cessful minister  of  the  Gospel.  The  present  incumbent 
was  ordained  September  16,  1835. 

During  the  ministry  of  Dr.  Proudfit,  in  the  year  1829, 
the  house  of  worship  was  repaired  and  altered,  and  a 
cenotaph  erected  in  the  eastern  corner  to  the  memory  of 
Whitefield,  by  Hon.  William  Bartlett,  then  a  member  of 
this  congregation.  In  the  year  .  1831,  this  society,  in 
common  with  others  in  this  town,  enjoyed  a  remarkable 
revival  of  religion.  During  most  of  that  period  the  pastor 
was  absent  on  a  tour  in  Europe,  and  the  pulpit  was 
supplied  chiefly  by  Rev.  Joseph  Abbot,  now  of  Beverly, 
and  Rev.  Dr.  Cheever,  now  of  New  York. 

In  the  summer  of  1843,  the  old  chapel,  having  become 
decayed,  a  new  and  commodious  one  was  erected  in  the 
rear  of  the  Church  and  connected  with  it. 


46 

The   cooperation   between  the  Church  and  society  has 
always    been,    it    is    believed,    harmonious    and    pleasant. 
Seldom   have    serious  difficulties    occurred  to  disturb  the 
general  peace  among  the  members  of  either.      The  regular 
ministrations  of  a  settled   pastor  have   been   enjoyed,  with 
but  short   intervals  from  the  beginning.     No   minister  has 
been  dismissed   from  his   office  on  account  of  dissension 
among   the    people,  or  a   dissatisfaction   with  him   or  his 
labors.     A    good   degree   of  spiritual  prosperity  has  been 
enjoyed,     {p)    From  its  commencement  to  the  present  day, 
the  Church  has  discovered  a  commendable  interest,  in  all 
departments  of  Christian  benevolence.     From  the   earliest 
date   at  which  its  records  were   regularly  kept,  an  annual 
collection  was,  for  many  years,  taken  up  for  the  benefit  of 
the  poor  among  its  own  people,  and  a  quarterly  collection 
for  general   purposes  of  charity.     In   the   year   1760,  340 
pounds,  4  shillings  and  3  pence,  was    collected   "  for  the 
distressed  people  of  Boston,  who   have   suffered,"  say  the 
records,  "by  the  late  fire  there."     Similar  collections  were 
from   time  to   time   afforded  to   meet  other  similar  wants. 
To   a  society  for  promoting  the   the   education  of  young 
men  for  the  Gospel  ministry,  this  congregation  contributed 
liberally,  as  early  as  the  year  17S3.     It  was  also  active,  at 
that  early  day,  in  maintaining  missionaries  in  the  destitute 
portions  of  our  country,  and  particularly  in  that  portion  of 
the    State  which  was  then  the  District  of  Maine.     Since 
the    organization    of    the    present    system    of    benevolent 
associations,   it  has   been  a  steady  contributor  to  all  the 
more    prominent    among    them,    furnishing    annually    an 
aggregate  little  short  of  the  salary  of  its  own  pastor.     It  is 
believed  few  Churches  and  congregations, — especially  if  we 
consider  the   heavy  burdens  which   the   people  were  com- 
pelled to  bear,  for  many  years  after   their  organization,  in 
contributing  to   the  support  of  two  ministers, — their  own 


47 

and  thai  of  the   old  parish, — have   discovered,  throughout 
their  whole  history,  a  more   ready  and   diffusive  liberality. 

The  Church  still  retains  her  early  form  of  government 
and  discipline.  Amidst  all  the  changes  which  have  taken 
place  around  her,  she  has  continued  to  be,  and  still  is,  a 
Presbyterian  Church,  the  only  one  in  the  State,  as  I  sup- 
pose, now  connected  with  any  presbytery.  Twice  at  least, 
she  has  been  solicited  to  adopt  the  forms  of  the  surrounding 
Churches, — once  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Dana,*  who,  at  the  time 
of  his  settlement,  had  a  preference  for  the  Congregational 
form,  and  once  by  some  of  her  own  members.  But  in 
both  instances  she  decided  to  remain,  as  her  founders 
established  her,  Presbyterian.  This  Church  has  been 
connected,  from  time  to  time,  with  several  presbyteries, 
and  was,  for  many  years  previous  to  the  great  schism  in 
the  general  assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the 
United  States,  a  constituent  part  of  that  body.  Since  that 
period,  the  presbytery  of  Newburyport,  not  being  disposed 
to  decide  between  the  two  bodies  claiming  the  name  and 
rights  of  that  assembly,  has  remained  separate. 

This  Church  still  maintains  her  original  confession  of 
faith.  The  Assembly's  Catechism  was  at  the  beginning, 
ever  has  been,  and  still  is,  "  for  substance  of  doctrine,"  the 
exposition  of  her  views  of  religious  truth.  Her  six  pastors 
have  been  men  of  various  temperaments,  and  educated 
under  a  great,  variety  of  circumstances,  but  it  is  believed  if 
they  could  all  be  gathered  at  this  moment,  they  would  see 
no  occasion  to  disagree  materially  upon  the  points  of 
doctrine,  in  which  they  have  instructed  their  flock.  Could 
the  faithful  dead,  who  have  been  its  members,  be  assembled 

*  It  is  due  to  Dr.  Dana  to  observe  here,  that  whatever  may  have  been 
the  predilections  of  his  youth,  he  has  since,  though  by  no  means  rigorous 
in  respect  to  forms  of  government,  evinced  a  strong  and  constant  attach- 
ment to  the  presbyterian  constitution  and  discipline. 


48 

now,  the  fathers  among  them  would  unquestionably  find 
us  changed  in  many  important  particulars  ;  in  some  respects, 
I  trust,  they  would  acknowledge  that  we  have  changed  for 
the  better ;  but  I  trust  they  would  not  find  us  to  have 
departed,  in  any  material  points,  from  an  adherence  to  those 
precious  truths,  for  the  sake  of  which  they  consented  to 
all  their  sacrifices.  They  would  acknowledge  and  feel, 
that,  so  far  as  we  are  what  we  profess  to  be,  we  and  they 
have  "  one  Lord,  one  faith,  one  baptism,  one  God  and 
father  of  all,  w*ho  is  above  all,  and  through  all,  and  in  us 
all." 

The  history  of  this  Church  seems  to  impose  upon  us 
some  peculiar  obligations. 

1.  First  it  teaches  us  to  be  valiant  for  the  truth,  and  to 
guard,  with  jealous  watchfulness,  the  faith  once  delivered 
to  the  saints.  The  period,  in  which  this  Church  was 
formed,  was  not  the  only  period  in  which  the  purity  and 
soundness  of  Christian  doctrine  has  been  endangered. 
There  are  perils  encompassing  the  Church,  at  the  present 
day,  of  which  the  fathers  dreamed  not.  The  enemies  are 
more,  and  stronger,  and  more  various  and  subtil,  than  at 
almost  any  period  known  to  us  since  the  Saviour's  advent. 
At  such  a  period,  it  becomes  us  to  study  carefully  the 
principles  and  the  foundations  of  our  faith, — that  we  may 
hold  fast  to  the  sacred  truths  which  our  fathers  cherished, 
not  with  a  blind  attachment,  but  with  an  intelligent  and 
reasonable  conviction.  Beware,  my  brethren,  of  that 
looseness  of  thought  and  opinion,  which  regards  all  sorts  of 
notions  on  religious  subjects  as  equally  good  and  equally 
safe  to  the  soul.  It  is  not  so.  Truth  is  one  and  invariable. 
Truth  alone  is  able  to  make  the  heart  of  man  wise  unto 
salvation.  Yet  I  would  not  have  you  fall  into  bigotry,  in 
your  attachment  to,  and  defence  of  the  truth.  Between 
bigotry  and  an  intelligent  and  conscientious  adherence  to 


49 

the  true  faith,  there  is  the  widest  possible  distinction. 
Contend  earnestly  for  the  faith,  but  do  not  quarrel  about  it. 
Keep  ever  an  open  hand,  in  fellowship  with  all  those  who 
hold  the  fundamental  principles  of  the  Gospel,  however 
they  may  differ  from  you  in  less  important  particulars. 
And  even  towards  those  who  seem  to  have  departed  from 
the  right  standard  in  essential  matters,  maintain  ever  that 
kindness,  courtesy  and  friendly  fairness,  which  will  con- 
vince them  that  your  firmness  is  not  obstinacy,  nor  your 
opposition  bitterness. 

2.  In  the  second  place  the  history  of  this  Church  teaches 
us  to  strive  earnestly  for  the  promotion  of  living  piety. 
It  is  not  a  round  of  decent  formalities,  it  is  not  regular 
attendance  on  the  outward  means  of  grace,  it  is  not  exter- 
nal blamelessness  of  life,  that  constitutes  true  religion.  The 
heart  must  be  right  with  God.  The  interior  fountain  of 
moral  feeling  and  action  must  be  sanctified.  The  spirit  of 
man  must  hold  constant  communion  with  the  Divine  Spirit. 
Our  conversation  must  be  in  heaven,  while  we  sojourn 
below,  and  our  whole  character  wear  the  ornaments  of 
heaven.  A  dead  orthodoxy  is  hardly  less  to  be  deplored 
than  the  worst  heresy.  Religious  truth  has  but  a  precari- 
ous hold  upon  us,  when  the  intellect  alone  receives  and 
embraces  it.  Unless  we  receive  the  truth  in  the  love  of  it, 
it  will  be  of  no  benefit  to  us.  Let  us  strive  then,  both  to 
feel  and  act,  and  to  make  others  feel  and  act  in  accordance 
with  the  doctrines  which  we  maintain.  And  praying 
earnestly  for  the  influences  of  the  Divine  Spirit,  without 
which  no  human  efforts  can  avail  anything,  let  us  strive  to 
convince  the  world  of  sin,  lead  the  wandering  soul  back  to 
the  Saviour  of  sinners,  and  make  the  Church  what  its  divine 
founder  intended  it  should  be,  a  living  exemplification  of 
the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus,  a  living  epistle  of  recommenda- 
tion to  it,  known  and  read  of  all  men.      O  !  if  this  Church 


50 

should  ever  sink  down  in  a  lifeless  form,  without  the  power 
of  Godliness,  me  thinks  the  ashes  of  the  dead  beneath  and 
around  us,  would  cry  shame  on  us,  from  their  tombs,  for 
our  wicked  apostacy.  Was  it  for  this  that  they  endured 
reproach,  and  trial,  and  suffering  ?  That  their  posterity 
might  forget  the  very  thing  which  was  most  dear  to  them  ? 
No,  my  brethren,  as  you  honor  the  fathers,  live  the  reli- 
gion you  profess.  Their  contest  was  for  a  living  piety. 
3.  The  history  of  this  Church  teaches  us  to  value  and 
promote  genuine  revivals  of  religion.  I  know  well  that 
there  is  an  element  of  imperfection, — a  manifest  token  of 
inadequacy  implied  in  that  very  word  revival  of  religion. 
Some  have  been  accustomed  to  regard  the  subject  of  reli- 
gious influence  too  much  in  the  light  of  a  series  of  revivals. 
Hence  they  pray  for  revivals,  they  strive  for  the  promotion 
of  revivals,  and  they  forget  to  pray  and  strive  for  that 
constant,  steady  and  enduring  power  of  Godliness,  which 
shall  be  as  the  shining  light  that  shineth  more  and  more 
unto  the  perfect  day.  But  the  imperfection  and  sinfulness 
of  man,  under  the  best  circumstances  hitherto,  teaches  us 
that  there  will  be  seasons  of  the  decline  of  piety.  In  such 
seasons  a  revival  is  the  object  to  be  aimed  at.  Had  it  not 
bedn  for  those  special  effusions  of  the  divine  spirit,  where, 
in  all  human  probability,  would  the  Churches  of  our  coun- 
try be  at  the  present  time  ?  Dead,  thrice  dead  and  plucked 
up  by  the  roots  !  In  a  revival  of  religion,  there  will  always 
be  discovered  much  imperfection,  which  would  not  be 
exhibited,  under  a  constant  prevalence  of  the  life  of  Godli- 
ness. The  dead  man,  beginning  to  recover  his  lost  vitality, 
may  be  expected  to  discover  traces  of  painful  agony,  hardly 
less  than  distort  the  features  of  the  dying.  But  what  then  ? 
Should  we  prefer,  therefore,  that  the  placid  calmness  of 
death  should  never  be  disturbed  ?  So,  in  the  case  before 
us.     The    attendant    evils   are    real    evils,  and    should  be 


61 

checked,  and  watched  against,  and  prayed  against,  but  after 
all,  what  is  the  chaff  to  the  wheat  ? 

4.  The  history  of  our  Church  teaches  us  to  be  active  and 
energetic,  and  self-sacrificing,  and,  at  the  same  time,  to 
beware  of  false  zeal,  and  disorderly  practices  in  the  promo- 
tion of  the  faith  which  we  love.  The  former  was,  under 
God,  the  cause  of  the  success  of  its  founders ;  the  latter 
was  their  grand  hindrance,  and  the  source  of  their  greatest 
discouragements.  An  apostle  bids  us  watch  and  be  sober, — 
watch  ;  never  suffer  ourselves  to  fall  asleep  at  our  post, — 
be  sober ;  avoid  all  false  heat  and  unbecoming  transports. 
They  that  sleep,  he  says,  sleep  in  the  night,  and  they  that 
be  drunken  are  drunken  in  the  night,  but  let  us  who  are  of 
the  day  be  sober.  Were  we  always  sober,  in  times  of 
peculiar  religious  interest,  we  should  not  be  exposed,  as  we 
now  too  often  are,  to  the  sudden  decay  and  desertion  of  the 
sacred  influence. 

We  have  received  this  Church  and  society,  my  brethren 
and  friends,  as  a  precious  legacy  from  your  worthy  ances- 
tors. Their  sacrifices  demand  of  us  that  we  preserve, 
improve  and  transmit  it.  Our  posterity  too,  have  a  claim 
upon  us ;  for  the  rich  estate  was  meant  for  them  no  less  than 
for  us.  God  grant  that  we  may  not  prove  ourselves 
unmindful  of  our  trust. 

5.  Again,  the  history  of  this  Church  teaches  you,  (I 
almost  dread  to  say  it,  when  I  consider  the  imperfection  of 
my  own  services,  but  I  must  not  refrain,)  the  history  of1 
this  Church  teaches  you,  never  to  be  satisfied  with  an 
unfaithful  ministry.  Be  candid,  always,  towards  those  who 
have  the  watch  over  you,  in  their  difficult  work,  knowing 
that  the  best  of  them,  no  less  than  yourselves,  are  compassed 
with  infirmities.  But,  O,  let  not  even  friendship,  and 
human  sympathy,  make  you  shrink  from  withdrawing  your 
support  and  confidence  from  such  as  do  not  preach  Christ 


52 

Jesus,  and  him  crucified,  with  zeal  and  fervor,  and  labor 
in  season  and  out  of  season  to  win  souls  to  Christ. 

In  closing  this  discourse  I  feel  that  I  am  sealing  up,  for 
the  final  account,  one  century  of  this  Church's  history. 
Another  century  will  roll  by,  and  who  will  celebrate  its 
close  ?  We  shall,  none  of  us,  be  here.  Where,  O  where ! 
will  our  immortal  souls  then  be  ?  Our  children,  too,  will 
have  passed  off  from  the  stage  of  life.  But  will  the 
Church  live?  It  will,  if  we  are  faithful  as  our  fathers 
were.  -Other  voices  will  be  heard  in  its  songs,  and 
speak  the  message  of  the  Most  High  from  the  sacred  pulpit. 
Other  'hands  will  break  the  bread  of  life.  But  if  the 
Church  still  lives;  if,  having  prepared  our  own  souls,  by 
divine  grace,  and  those  of  our  immediate  descendants,  for 
the  Church  on  high,  and  done  our  duty  faithfully,  we  and 
they  shall  have  been  gathered  into  rest ;  with  what  joy 
shall  we  look  down  from  the  heavenly  mansions,  as  the 
sainted  dead  now,  we  trust,  look  down  upon  us,  and  see 
our  children's  children,  here  preparing,  through  the  grace 
of  God,  to  join  the  same  general  assembly  and  Church  of 
the  first  born.     Amen  ! 


APPENDIX. 


(1)  The  anniversary  was  observed  on  the  day  mentioned  in  the  title 
page.  This  was  selected  with  reference  to  convenience.  The  weather 
was  exceedingly  stormy,  yet  a  numerous  audience  were  in  attendance. 
The  introductory  devotional  exercises  in  the  morning,  were  conducted  by 
Rev.  William  A.  Stearns,  of  Cambridgeport,  a  brother  of  the  pastor. 
After  the  sermon,  the  following  Hymn  was  sung,  composed  for  the  occa- 
sion by  Hon.  George  Lunt,  a  member  of  the  society  : 

Thy  temple  stands,  oh  God  of  grace, 

Above  our  thought,  beneath  our  tread, 
Its  ample  floor,  unmeasured  space, 

Its  arch  with  worlds  unnumbered  spread. 

Yet  though  not  all  creation's  bound 

Thy  power  contains,  thy  glory  tells, 
Within  thy  earthly  courts  are  found 

The  places  where  thy  spirit  dwells. 

Thus  on  our  sires,  an  honored  race, 

Thy  dews  descended  like  the  rain, 
While  here  they  met  to  seek  thy  face, 

Nor  sent  a  prayer  to  Heaven  in  vain. 

Beneath  these  walls  how  oft  they  heard, 

From  fervent  heart  and  burning  tongue, 
Thy  sacred  truth,  thy  holy  word, 

Sustain  the  old  and  cheer  the  young  ! 

This  earthly  temple  of  thy  praise, 

How  glorious  and  how  dear  its  name  ! 
Thy  blessing  crowned  its  ancient  days, 

Thy  promised  blessing  stands  the  same. 

i 

Built  on  that  Rock  in  Zion  laid, 

May  here  thy  Church  forever  rise, 
Thy  truth  its  deep  foundation  made, 

Its  hope  eternal  in  the  skies. 

5* 


54 

No  gorgeous  rites,  nor  shrines  of  gold, 

Within  these  sacred  precincts  he  j 
But  <jrant  the  fervent  faith  of  old 

To  hind  us  closer,  Lord,  to  thee  ! 

May  here  while  ages  roll  away, 

Our  children's  children  all  appear, 
Here  love  to  learn  and  praise  and  pray, 

And  find  their  God,  their  Savior  here  ! 

The  services  of  the  afternoon  were  commenced  by  reading  a  letter  to 
the  Church  from  one  of  their  former  pastors,  Rev.  Dr.  Proudfit,  of  New 
Brunswick,  N.  J.  Then  a  portion  of  the  preamble  to  the  original  Consti- 
tution of  the  Church,  setting  forth  the  vieWs  of  the  founders,  was  read. 
After  a  prayer  for  a  divine  blessing  upon  the  solemn  transaction,  the 
Church  rose  and  publicly  renewed  their  covenant  with  God  and  one  an- 
other, in  the  words  originally  adopted  by  their  fathers,  and  to  which  the 
names  of  all  the  successive  members  have  been  signed.  Prayer  was  then  of- 
fered by  the  Rev.  John  March,  of  Belleville,  Newbury,  formerly  a  member 
of  the  Church.  After  this  the  sacrament  of  the  Lord's  supper  was  adminis- 
tered by  Rev.  Jonathan  Greenleaf,  of  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  a  descendant 
both  of  the  first  pastor,  and  also  of  one  of  the  first  members,  and  Rev. 
Daniel  Dana,  D.  D.,  who  had  been  its  pastor  during  twenty-six  years. 
Appropriate  hymns  were  sung  in  the  intervals  of  the  other  parts  of  the 
service. 

The  exercises  were  solemn  and  impressive,  and  the  Church,  we  trust, 
will  be  found  to  have  received  from  them  new  strength  to  enter  upon  the 
unknown  events  of  another  century. 

(a)  The  encouragement  referred  to  was  a  new  proposal  to  refer  the 
whole  matter  to  a  mutual  Council,  first  made  on  the  part  of  the  aggrieved, 
and  accepted  by  the  pastor  ;  then  made  in  a  somewhat  modified  form,  by  the 
pastor;  and,  as  the  aggrieved  allege,  accepted  by  them.  The  Committee 
of  the  Church,  in  their  statement,  to  the  Council  subsequently  called, 
represented  the  aggrieved  as  having  refused  this  offer.  The  aggrieved, 
on  the  other  hand,  denied  the  representation,  and  declared  that  they 
offered  inform  the  following  written  declaration:  "June  6,1744.  In 
answer  to  a  proposal  made  us  by  our  Reverend  pastor,  at  the  last  meeting, 
we  now  offer  to  leave  all  difficulties  between  our  pastor  and  us  to  a  Council 
of  Churches,  mutually  chosen  by  our  pastor  and  us  ;  or  to  a  Council  of 
Churches,  half  to  be  chosen  by  our  pastor  and  the  Church  who  adhere  to 
him,  and  half  by  us;  or  to  a  Council  to  be  chosen  half  by  the  aggrieved, 
and  half  by  the  rest  of  the  Church.  And  if  either  of  these  proposals  be 
accepted  of  or  consented  to,  we  desire  the  time  for  such  Council's  meet- 
ing may  now  be  appointed,  and  the  Churches  sent  to  as  soon  as   may   be. 

Instead  of  acting  directly  upon  this  very  explicit  offer,  the  Church 
passed  the  following  vote  : 


55 

u  At  a  legal  Church  meeting  it  was  voted  unanimously  in  the  affirma- 
tive, June  6th,  1744, — That  whereas,  several  of  our  brethren  in  the  first 
Church  in  Newbury  have  separated  themselves  from  communion  with 
said  Church,  it  is  desired  that  said  separated  brethren  would  give  in  their 
reasons  to  said  Church  why  or  for  what  reasons  they  have  separated,  at 
the  next  meeting  ;  every  separate  member  to  give  in  his  reasons  in  partic- 
ular by  himself." 

At  the  next  meeting,  June  13th,  several  of  the  brethren  appeared  and 
gave  their  reasons,  but  the  Church  dissolved  the  meeting  without  passing 
a  vote.  The  proposal  of  the  pastor,  so  explicitly  accepted  and  renewed 
by  the  aggrieved,  was  not  acted  on,  yet  the  aggrieved  were  still  held 
chargeable  with  having  rejected  it. 

It  was  on  the  ground  of  a  supposed  rejection  of  this  proposal  that  the 
Council,  subsequently  called  by  the  Church  and  pastor,  declared  the 
conduct  of  the  aggrieved  and  that  of  the  exparte  Council  which  had  sanc- 
tioned their  proceedings,  irregular, — of  course  on  the  ground  of  facts 
which  the  aggrieved  explicitly  deny,  and  of  which  their  own  account  is 
contained  in  the  text.  Of  the  result  of  the  Church's  Council  the  aggrieved 
say  :  "  This  Council  justified  the  pastor  further,  we  believe,  than  the 
Church  expected,  and  no  wonder,  considering  the  foundation  they  pro- 
ceeded on." 


(b)  The  following  account  is  copied  from  the  records  of  the  First  Church 
in  Newbury  : 

"At  the  same  day,  (Feb.  11,  1745-6,)  the  Church  taking  into  con- 
sideration the  conduct  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Jonathan  Parsons,  of  Lyme,  in 
Connecticut,  in  preaching  to  a  number  of  the  brethren  withdrawn  from 
this  and  the  neighboring  Churches,  voted  as  follows  : 

"  1.  That  they  are  of  opinion  it  is  disorderly  and  matter  of  offence  to 
them  for  any  minister  to  officiate  as  a  minister  on  the  Lord's  day  among 
those  people  that  have  withdrawn  from  this  Church  and  the  Churches  in 
the  neighborhood. 

"  2.  That  it  is  their  duty  to  signify  to  the  Reverend  Mr.  Jonathan 
Parsons,  that  as  a  Church  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  they  are  offended  with 
him  for  his  officiating  on  Lord's  day  to  any  of  the  brethren  of  this  and  the 
neighboring  Churches. 

u  3.  That  if  he  does  not  refrain  it  is  their  duty  to  exhibit  a  complaint 
against  him,  as  walking  disorderly,  to  the  particular  Church  that  he  stands 
related  to. 

"  4.  That  inasmuch  as  the  brethren  withdrawn  from  us,  and  other 
Churches  in  the  neighborhood,  seem  disposed  to  have  a  minister  set  over 
them,  and  may  possibly  effect  it  under  their  present  circumstances,  though 
it  be  greatly  contrary  to  the  rule  and  order  of  the  Gospel,  and  inasmuch  as 
they  seem  to  affect  the  said  Mr.  Parsons,  who  by  reason  of  misconduct,  as 
we  understand,  has  rendered  himself  unacceptable  to  the  people  he  has 
had  the  charge  of,  that  it  is  their  duty  to  inquire  into  the  matter  of  his 
offence,  and  what  he  has  to  recommend  him  to  the  esteem  and  acceptance 
of  any  people  as  a  minister  of  the  Gospel." 


66 

(c)  The^course  of  proceedings  at  Lyme  were  exceedingly  embarrassing 
and  complicated.  A  pretty  just  view  of  the  merits  of  the  case  may  be  obtain- 
ed from  manuscript  documents  preserved  among  the  descendants  of  Mr. 
Parsons.  One  source  of  embarrassment  in  settling  the  difficulties,  arose 
from  the  fact  that  Mr.  Parsons,  at  the  request  of  his  people,  as  well  as  in 
conformity  to  his  own  judgment,  explicitly  renounced,  at  his  ordination, 
the  Saybrook  platform,  by  which  a  large  part  of  the  neighboring  Churches 
were  governed.  He  thought  that  Constitution  defective  in  several 
respects,  but  was  especially  averse  to  the  right  which  it  was  understood 
to  accord  to  the  civil  government  of  interfering  in  the  affairs  of  the  Church. 
The  peculiarity  of  his  position,  however,  gave  rise  to  many  misunder- 
standings. 

The  following  testimony  from  two  neighboring  ministers,  pastors  of  the 
two  other  parishes  in  the  same  place,  who  must  have  known  thoroughly 
all  the  circumstances  of  the  case,  from  the  beginning,  is  sufficiently 
explicit  and  full.  After  recapitulating  the  result  of  the  Council  they 
proceed  thus  : 

"  Now  we,  the  subscribers,  ministers  of  Lyme,  above  said,  do  heartily 
join  in  the  recommendation  above  mentioned,  and  freely  declare  that 
we  verily  believe,  and  that  upon  much  acquaintance  with  the  whole 
affairs  of  the  lonor  subsisting  difficulties  that  have  been  in  that  Church 
and  society,  that  our  dear  brother,  Mr.  Parsons,  has  been  injuriously 
treated,  and  much  wronged  in  his  character,  by  some,  and  that  there  is 
no  just  bar,  that  we  know  of,  in  the  way  of  his  usefulness,  nor  in  the 
way  of  his  administering  as  a  minister  of  Christ  among  any  people  that 
shall  call  him  thereto,  as  he  hath  always  been  gladly  received  by  us 
and  our  Churches,  as  often  as  we  have  had  the  opportunity  of  his  occa- 
sional labors  among  us. 

GEORGE  GRISWOLD, 
GEORGE  BECKWITH. 

Lyme,  October  24,  1745." 

(</)  The  following  extract  from  Mr.  Parsons' journal,  will  serve  to  throw 
light  on  the  reasons  of  the  position  which  this  Church  at  first  assumed  : 

Sept.  12,  1746.  I  spent  most  of  the  day  with  Mr.  Jewett,  of  Rowley,  and 
Mr.  Daniel  Rogers,  of  Ipswich.  Had  much  discourse  with  them  about 
the  state  of  the  Churches,  and  particularly  about  the  state  of  this  Church. 
I  asked  them  what  it  was  proper  to  do.  Whether  it  was  best  to  seek  in  a 
public  way  for  the  communion  of  the  Churches  by  a  Council,  &c.  Mr. 
Jewett  replied,  that  he  did  not  see  any  necessity  for  it,  nor  any  advantage 
it  would  be  to  us  on  a  temporal  account,  because,  respecting  being  freed 
from  rates,  as  long  as  the  Court  were  of  the  same  way  of  thinking  as 
they  be  now,  they  will  find  means  enough  to  deny  any  petition  of  this 
people,  till  they  are  forced  to  grant  it;  and  then  if  we  should  call  a  Council 
and  ministers  should  come,  it  would  probably  break  their  own  Churches 
to  pieces,  and  if  they  run  such  a  risk  and  declared  us  a  well  established 
Church,  it  would  give  us  the  public  communion  of  but  few  Churches. 
But  if  we  were  united  to  go  forward  as  we  were,  a  little  while,  we  should 
find  prejudices  wear  off.     Mr.  Rogers  said  he  was  of  the  same  mind  in  the 


57 

main,  but  added  that  he  thought  it  our  bounden  duty  to  continue  as  we 
were,  independent  of  other  Churches  in  Church  discipline;  for,  said  he,  it 
is  one  principle  that  your  Church  went  out  upon,  that  they  and  many 
others  were  oppressed,  and  the  discipline  of  the  Churches  so  sunk,  they 
could  not  have  any  further  relief.  Now,  said  he,  there  are  many  others 
that  are  oppressed,  and  stand  in  great  need  of  relief,  but  are  not  likely  to 
have  it  jf  you  don't  help  them.  But  if  you  don't  abide  independent,  in 
point  of  discipline,  you  can't  relieve  them;  whereas  if  you  continue  as  you 
are,  you  may  soon  have  several  Churches,  round  about,  that  may  unite 
with  yours  in  a  consociation  or  presbytery,  which  will  be  much  better 
than  any  other  way. 

(e)  The  following  propositions  were  presented  and  severally  acted  upon  : 

Proposals  respecting  the  Rev.  Mr.  Jonathan  Parsons,  offered  to  the  new 
Church  and  Congregation  in  Newbury,  at  their  meeting  in  the  meeting- 
house, March  19,  1745,  viz  : 

1.  Whether  the  Church,  notwithstanding  all  those  representations, 
which  have  been  spread  abroad,  tending  to  disserve  Mr.  Parson's  charac- 
ter and  hurt  his  usefulness,  is  in  full  charity  with  him,  and  from  the 
judgment  of  the  Council,  now  read,  with  the  letters  recommendatory, 
whether  this  Church  is  fully  satisfied  that  his  moral,  religious  and  minis- 
terial character  is,  or  ought  in  justice  to  be  esteemed,  blameless  and 
unsullied  amono-  the  Churches  of  Christ.     Voted  in  the  affirmative. 

2.  Whether  the  Congregation  that  usually  meets  in  this  house  to  attend 
and  uphold  the  worship  of  God  here,  are  well  satisfied  from  the  judgment 
of  Council,  and  letters  recommendatory  now  read,  that  Mr.  Parsons'  moral 
character  ought  to  be  esteemed  blameless  and  good,  and  whether  they  so 
account  of  him,  as  of  a  minister  of  Christ.     Voted  in  the  affirmative. 

3.  Whether  the  congregation  that  usually  meets  in  this  house,  to  attend 
and  encourage  the  worship  of  God  here,  do  desire  Mr.  Parsons  to  settle 
among  them,  and  minister  in  holy  things,  as  a  minister  of  Christ  to  them, 
and  whether  they  will,  upon  condition  of  his  accepting  the  call  of  the 
Church  and  Con  ore  nation,  submit  themselves  to  his  administrations  in  this 
place — the  same  being  agreeable  to  the  faith  and  constitution  upon  which 
this  Church  is  settled.     Voted  in  the  affirmative. 

4.  Whether  this  Church  is  willing,  from  the  acquaintance  they  have 
with  Mr.  Parsons,  and  the  letters  from  the  ministers  and  churches  now 
read  to  them,  to  admit  him  to  their  communion,  in  all  the  special  ordi- 
nances of  the  Gospel,  to  esteem  him  as  one  of  the  members  of  the  body  of 
Christ  in  a  particular  relation  to  this  Church,  as  one  in  good  standing, 
having  an  equal  right,  in  all  respects,  to  all  privileges  with  any  other 
member  of  the  Church.     Voted  in  the  affirmative. 

5.  Whether  this  Church  looks  upon  Mr.  Parsons,  already  authorized 
by  solemn  separation  to  the  work  of  the  Gospel  ministry,  to  do  the 
whole  work  of  a  Gospel  minister  in  any  particular  Church  of  Christ  that 
desires  the  same  of  him,  and  are  willing  to  put  themselves  under  his  pas- 
toral care.     Voted  in  the  affirmative. 

6.  Whether  this  Church  do  now  publicly  renew  their  call  to  Mr.  Parsons, 
desiring  him  to  take  the  oversight  of  this  part  of  Christ's  flock  in  particu- 
lar.    Voted  in  the  affirmative. 

7.  Whether  upon  consideration  that  Mr.  Parsons  does  publicly  accept  of 
their  call,  this  Church  do  submit  to  him  under  Christ,  as   their  pastor, 


58 

vested  with  a  Gospel  right  over  this  Church  to  read,  expound,  and  teach 
the  word,  to  administer  the  seals  of  the  new  covenant  to  them,  and  the 
ordinance  of  holy  discipline,  according  to  the  constitution  of  this  Church. 
Voted  in  the  affirmative. 

(/)  The  Church  early  entertained  the  design  of  uniting  itself  with  a 
regular  presbytery.  On  the  fifth  of  April,  174G,  a  resolution  was  adopted 
to  that  effect ;  but  for  reasons  not  stated,  the  subject  was  at  a  subsequent 
meeting,  postponed.  In  the  month  of  September,  1748,  the  Church  voted 
unanimously  to  unite  with  the  Presbytery  of  Boston,  of  which  Mr.  Moor- 
head,  of  Boston,  and  Mr.  McGregoire,  were  prominent  members.  The 
record  of  this  vote  is  as  follows  : 

"  Sept.  15,  1748.  At  a  meeting  of  the  collective  body  of  the  Church, 
after  sermon  and  prayers,  it  was  debated  whether  all  were  freely  willing 
to  be  annexed  to  Mr.  Moorhead's  presbytery,  and  after  discoursing,  in  love 
and  calmness  upon  it,  for  more  than  an  hour,  a  question  was  proposed  and 
deliberately  read  over,  three  times,  in  the  following  words,  viz  :  Whether 
upon  mature  deliberation  this  Church  does  consent  to  be  annexed  to  Mr. 
Moorhead's  presbytery,  in  case  said  presbytery  can  satisfy  the  elders  of  the 
Church  respecting  their  coming  off  from  the  presbytery  to  which  they 
formerly  belonged,  appear  really  desirous  of  receiving  us,  make  no  diffi- 
culty about  our  choosing  our  elders  annually,  don't  bind  any  respecting 
the  form  of  administering  and  receiving  the  sacraments,  appear  to  be 
hearty  friends  to  the  great  doctrines  of  Grace  as  contained  in  the  Westmin- 
ster Confession  of  Faith  and  Catechisms,  and  hearty  friends  to  the  power 
of  Godliness." 

The  vote   passed  unanimously,  and  the  next  spring  we  find  the   elders 

of  the  Church  appointing  one  of  their  number  as  a  representative  to  the 

presbytery  above  named. 

(g)  In  a  petition  to  the  general  Court,  dated  October  29,  1748,  they  say 

as  follows  : 

M  Amongst  other  things  it  is  alleged  that  the  petitioners  are  of  the 
Presbyterian  persuasion.  Your  humble  petitioners  beg  leave  to  sug- 
gest that  they  never  intended  because  they  were  Presbyterians,  which 
respects  the  form  of  Church  government  only,  (according  to  the  general 
understanding  of  the  words,)  that  therefore  they  could  not  attend  the 
worship  of  God  in  a  Congregational  Church;  but  their  difficulties  are  of  a 
higher  nature  and  concern  doctrinal  points,  which  bind  their  consciences, 
otherwise,  upon  this  first  point,  they  had  never  troubled  your  excellencies 
and  honors." 

In  the  preface  to  their  platform  of  Government,  the  fathers  of  the 
Church  declare,  "  We  shall  readily  join  with  those  Churches  that  explicitly 
declare  they  have  not  departed  from  the  ancient  faith." 

In  the  year  1794, 

"  The  Church  voted  unanimously  that  we  still  adhere  to  the  Constitu- 
tion of  this  Church,  and  our  connexion  with  the  presbytery,  and  desire 
further  to  hold  ministerial  and  Church  communion  with  such  other 
ministers  and  Churches  as  are   united  with  us  in   the  great  fundamental 


59 

doctrines  of  the  Gospel,  in  the  same  manner  as  heretofore  practised  by 
this  Church." 

In  conformity  with  these  principles,  this  Church  has  been  accustomed 
to  invite  her  sister  Churches  of  the  congregational  denomination,  to  set  in 
Council  with  the  Presbytery,  in  the  ordination  of  her  ministers,  and  to 
reciprocate  the  same  friendly  aid  in  answer  to  invitations  from  them.  She 
dismisses  and  recommends  her  members  freely  to  all  such  of  these 
Churches  as  are  sound  in  the  faith,  and  as  freely  receives  members  from 
them  on  their  recommendation. 

The  old  form  of  recommending  a  member  was  as  follows : 

M  Voted  to  recommend to  the  communion  of  the  Church  of  Christ 

in  sealing  ordinances  in  any  Christian  assembly  where  God,  in  his  provi- 
dence, may  call  him,  provided  they  adhere  to  the  doctrines  of  the 
reformation,  renouncing  Arminianism  on  the  one  hand,  and  Antinomi- 
anism  on  the  other." 


(h)  The  application  from  the  brethren  from  the  third  Church,  was  first 
presented  June  9,  1746. 

"  The  brethren  chose  to  think  of  the  affair  a  little  while,  and  take  more 
opportunity  to  ask  advice  of  ministers.  Therefore,  it  was  desired  that 
Elders  John  Brown  and  Benjamin  Knight  should  go  to  Bradford,  where  a 
Council  was  to  set  the  next  week,  and  advise  with  some  of  the  minis- 
ters about  the  matter.  I  hope  the  Lord  will  direct  us  in  the  right  way, 
and  make  us  all  of  one  mind." — 'Parsons'  Journal. 

The  request  was  not  granted  till  the  16th  of  October  following. 


(/)  The  names  of  most  of  the  men  who  were  concerned  in  the  first  estab- 
lishment of  this  religious  society,  may  be  ascertained,  I  presume,  from  the 
following  subscription  paper,  copied,  without  the  sums  annexed,  from  the 
original,  by  John  Brown,  the  first  clerk  : 

"  Upon  the  mature  consideration  of  the  many  Difficultys  we  have  long 
laboured  under  on  Religious  accounts,  we  look  upon  it,  for  many  and 
weighty  Reasons,  our  Duty,  &  not  only  so,  but  that  it  would  be  much  for 
our  Spiritiial  advantage  &  edification,  and  for  the  advancement  of  the 
Interest  of  the  Redeemer's  Kingdom  among  us  to  unite  in  a  New  Society 
for  the  Settlement  of  a  Gospel  Ministry  among  us,  and  it  having  pleased 
God  in  his  Providence  to  give  us  an  opportunity  of  Hearing  the  Rev. 
Mr.  Jonathan  Parsons  whereby  we  have  had  some  tastes  of  his  Ministerial 
abilities  and  Qualifications,  from  which  we  can't  but  think  if  it  should  please 
God  to  incline  him  to  settle  among  us  in  the  Ministry,  we  have  a  pros- 
pect opened  to  us  of  obtaining  these  blessed  Ends,  looking  upon  it  allso 
our  Duty  to  provide  an  handsome  suitable  Support  for  such  a  Ministry  : 
Upon  the  Rev.  Mr.  Parsons  accepting  our  Invitation,  We  the  Subscribers 
do  hereby  for  ourselves  covenant  engage  &  agree  to  pay  for  the 
Support  of  the  said  Rev'd  Mr.  Parsons  yearly  &  every  year  while  he 
continues  in  the  Ministry  among  us  :  the  several  Sums  which  we  have 
herein  subscribed  for,  We  also  covenant  and  agree  to  pay  towards  his 


60 


Settlement  the  several  Sums  which  we  have  subscribed  for,  as  they  are 
set  in  the  following  Lists  which  are  both  in  the  Old  Tenor  as-  witness  out 
hands  affixed  thereto — 


Newbury,  Nov'r  25th,  1745. 


Thomas  Pike, 
Timothy  Toppan, 
Moses  Bradstreet, 
Enoch  Sawyer, 
Enoch  Titcomb, 
Charles  Peirce, 
Daniel  Noyes, 
Richard  Toppan, 
John  Brown, 
William  Brown, 
Nathaniel  Atkinson, 
Joseph  Atkinson, 
Edward  Presbury, 
Enoch   Toppan, 
Joseph  Hidden, 
Ebenezer  Little, 
Jonathan  Beck, 
Benjamin  Rogers, 
Spencer  Bennett, 
Benj.  Moody, 
Stephen  Kent, 
Parker   Noyes, 
Enoch  Titcomb,  Jr., 
Joshua  Greenleaf, 
John  Greenleaf, 
Timothy  Greenleaf, 
Robert  Mitchel, 
Benj.  Frothingham, 
George  Goodhue, 
Joseph  Goodhue, 
Isaac  Johnson, 
Jonathan   Knight, 
William  Noyes, 
Daniel  Harris, 


Benj.  Norton, 
Samuel  Cresey, 
Jonathan  Greenleaf, 
Nehemiah  Wheeler, 
William  Harris, 
Benj.  Peirce, 
Simon  Noyes, 
Samuel  Toppan, 
Samuel  Lonjj, 
Moses  Coffin, 
Jonathan  Plumer, 
John  Plumer,  Jr,, 
Samuel  Harris, 
Silvanus  Plumer, 
John  Poor, 
Henry  Titcomb, 
John  Berry, 
Philip  Combes, 
Jacob  Knight, 
Moses  Peirce, 
Nathaniel  Knap, 
Moses  Todd, 
Eleazear  Keazear, 
John  Fisher, 
Zechariah   Nowell, 
Joseph  Bayley, 
Joseph  Cheney, 
James  Safford, 
Cutting  Pettingle,  Jr., 
Henry  Lunt,  Jr., 
Cutting  Pettingle, 
Samuel  Pettingle, 
Moses  Pettingle, 
Richard  Hale, 


Samuel  Hale, 
Moses  Noyes, 
Daniel  Goodenr 
Nathan  Peabody, 
John  Lowden, 
Ralph  Cross, 
John  Norton, 
John   Harris, 
Joshua  Combes, 
Joshua  Greenleaf,  Jr >f 
Nathan   Brown, 
Lemuel  Jenkins, 
Nicholas  Pettingle, 
Daniel   Woster, 
Joseph  Couch  Jr., 
Daniel  Lunt,  Jr., 
John   Harbut, 
Samuel  Shackford, 
Alexander  Morrison, 
Henry  Sewall, 
Edmund  Morse, 
Daniel  R'chards, 
Daniel  Wells, 
Samuel  Todd, 
Moses  Ordway, 
Daniel  Sanborn, 
Benj.  Peirce,  Jr., 
Joseph  Russell, 
James  Mickmillion, 
Samuel  Peirce, 
Benj.  Knight, 
Bezd  Knight, 
Robert  Cole, 
John  Pike,  Jr. 


A  true  Copy  from  the  Originall.     Taken  this  16th  of  Dec'r,  1745. 
.is  Attest.  JOHN  BROWN,   Clerk 


(j)  In  an  almanac  journal,  kept  by  Mr.  Caleb  Greenleaf,  are  to  be  found 
the  following  entries  : 

1756.  M  July  5,  we  began  to  raise  our  meeting-house  and  finished  it  the 
7th,  and  not  one  oath  heard  and  nobody  hurt."  "On  the  7th,  the  Rev. 
John  Morehead,  of  Boston,  preached  the  first  sermon  in  it  from  2d  Chroni- 
cles, 7  :  1*2.  The  first  sermon  preached  in  our  new  meeting-house  was  on 
Aug.  15.  The  text  was  the  whole  of  122d  Psalm."  1759.  "  Sept  10,  Mr 
Samuel  Pettingell  fell  from  the  steeple  of  Mr.  Parsons'  meeting-house, 
which  was  this  year  erected,  and  was  killed  instantly." — Coffin's  History 


61 

(k)  The  following  letter  from  Mr.  Parsons  to  Mr.  Sproat,  contains  the 
only  account  I  have  seen  of  this  design  : 

"  Rev.  and  Dear  Brother  : 

An  late  exchange  has  had  a  wonderful  influence  among  many  of  our 
people,  which  has  produced  the  following  proposals,  for  the  trial  of  the 
minds  of  the  congregation,  viz  :  '  Proposals  for  calling  and  settling  the 
Rev.  Mr.  James  Sproat  as  colleague  pastor  with  the  Rev.  Mr.  Parsons, 
of  Newburyport.  Conditions. — That  the  building  in  Newbury  first  par- 
ish be  finished  with  as  many  pews  in  proportion  to  its  bigness,  as  are 
in  Mr.  Parsons'  meeting-house.  The  finishing  to  be  by  the  sale  of 
the  pews  under  the  conduct  of  that  part  of  the  congregation  living 
in  said  parish.  2d,  that  the  taxation  of  pews,  polls  and  estates  in  said 
new  building,  or  belonging  to  it,  shall  bear  the  same  proportion  with 
that  in  the  other  house.  3d,  that  said  Messrs.  Parsons  and  Sproat  be 
esteemed  as  ministers  equally  belonging  to  both  houses,  they  agreeing  as 
to  times  of  preaching  in  the  one  and  the  other.  4th,  that  the  whole  body 
be  one  particular  Church,  governed  as  Mr.  Parsons'  has  been  heretofore, 
and  that  the  proportionable  part  of  the  elders  be  always  among  those  that 
belonged  to  said  first  parish,  being  chosen  by  the  whole  body.  5th,  that 
those  who  do  or  may  belong  to  either  of  said  houses,  do  submit  themselves 
to  a  taxation,  as  mentioned  above,  for  an  equal  support  of  both  the  minis- 
ters. Dated  Newburyport,  October  26,  1767.  The  subscribers  hereby 
declare  their  approbation  of  the  proposal  of  such  settlement,  and  of  the 
condition  above  mentioned,  and  desire  the  affair  may  be  prosecuted.' 

The  above  is  now  prosecuting,  and  it  is  desired  you  would  not  engage 
with  any  other  people  for  four  weeks  from  the  date  of  this. letter.  After  all 
I  can't  advise  anything  in  my  difficult  situation,  but  can  assure  you  no  man 
would  be  more  agreeable  as  colleague  than  you." 

From  a  comparison  of  dates,  lam  led  to  suppose  that  the  new  house  refer- 
red to  in  this  letter,  was  the  one  described  by  Coffin  in  his  history,  as  hav- 
ing been  raised  and  boarded  July,  1766,  opposite  the  old  meeting-house  in 
the  first  parish  in  Newbury,  and  which  was  never  finished,  but  fell  to  the 
ground  in  a  violent  storm,  February,  1771.  Many  of  the  movers  in  that 
project  were,  it  seems,  members  of  Mr.  Parsons'  society,  held  to  the  sup- 
port of  a  ministry  in  the  First  Parish,  which  they  conscientiously  disap- 
proved. Mr.  Parsons'  Journal  shows  that  much  disorder  prevailed  in  the 
religious  affairs  of  the  two  towns  about  this  period. 


(I)  The  character  of  Mr.  Parsons  had  some  marked  faults  as  well  as  mark- 
ed excellencies.  Tradition  says  he  was  at  times  exceedingly  passionate,  but 
that  when  the  first  impulse  was  over,  no  man  could  be  more  penitent.  An  an- 
ecdote like  this  has  been  related  of  him.  On  one  occasion  a  bill  was  presented 
him  for  payment,  which  at  first  struck  him  as  exorbitant,  and  he  very  an- 
grily and  peremptorily  refused.  No  sooner,  however,  had  the  claimant 
returned  to  his  place  of  business  than  Mr.  Parsons  entered,  and  the  follow 
ing  dialogue  ensued  :  "  Have  you  seen  Mr.  Parsons  this  morning  ?  "  "  Yes, 
certainly,  I  saw  you  at  your  house,  and  presented  your  bill."  "  It  wasn't 
Mr.  Parsons,  it  was  the  devil.     Til  settle  the  bill."     It  is  presumed  that  by 

G 


62 

thus  charging  his  excited  feelings  to  Satanic  agency,  Mr.  Parsons  did  not 
intend  to  excuse  but  rather  to  humble  himself. 


(m)  The  following  extracts  from  Greenleaf 's  "  Sketches  of  Ecclesiasti- 
cal History,"  will  serve  to  throw  some  light  upon  the  early  Presbyterial  re- 
lations of  this  Church. 

M  The  first  Presbytery  in  Now  England,  was  constituted  in  Londonderry, 
April  16,  1745,  by  Rev.  John  Morehead  of  Boston,  Rev.  David  M'Gregor 
of  Londonderry,  and  Rev.  Robert  Abercrombie  of  Pelham,  with  James 
M'Kean,  Alexander  Conkey  and  James  Heughs,  elders.  It  was  called  the 
c  Boston  Presbytery.'  '  In  three  years,  they  were  joined  by  Rev.  Jonathan 
Parsons  of  Newburyport,  and  after  that,  by  one  or  two  others,  and  so  con- 
tinued for  nearly  ten  years.  There  were  a  considerable  number  of  Presby- 
terian Churches,  lying  on  both  sides  of  the  Merrimack,  in  Massachusetts  and 
New  Hampshire,  and  a  few  in  Maine.  The  presbyterial  records  appear  to 
have  been  regularly  kept  till  1751.  A  chasm  then  appears,  and  nothing  is 
recorded  in  the  original  book  until  Oct.  24,  1770.  The  Presbytery  at  this 
time  consisted  of  twelve  congregations.  Measures  were  taken  for  dividing 
it  into  three,  and  forming  a  Svnod.  After  more  than  four  vears,  during 
which  some  others  were  added  to  the  number,  at  a  meeting  at  Seabrook, 
May  31,  1775,  a  division  was  amicably  agreed  on  as  follows  :  that  Messrs. 
Jonathan  Parsons  of  Newburyport,  Nathaniel  Whitaker,  D.  D.  of  Salem, 
Samuel  Perley  of  Seabrook,  Alexander  M'Lean  of  Bristol,  Maine,  and  the 
congregation  at  Boston,  then  vacant  by  the  death  of  Mr.  Morehead,  together 
with  Rev.  Benjamin  Balch,  and  the  vacancies  within  their  bounds  be  the 
'  Eastern  Presbytery,'  called  the  '  Presbytery  of  Salem.'  That  Messrs.  Da- 
vid M'Gregor  of  Londonderry,  Daniel  Mitchell  of  Pembroke,  Simon  Wil- 
liams of  Windham,  and  John  Strickland  of  Oakham,  with  the  conoregation 
at  Petersburgh,  and  the  other  vacancies  within  their  bounds  be  the  middle 
presbytery,  called  the  Presbytery  of  Londonderry.  That  Messrs.  John 
Houston  and  Moses  Baldwin,  with  their  congregations  at  Bedford  and  King- 
ston, the  vacant  conoreo-ations  of  Blandford,  Pelham  and  Colrain,  with 
Aaron  Hutchinson,  Nathan  Merril,  George  Gilmore,  and  Joseph  Patrick, 
candidates,  be  the  western  presbytery,  called  the  Presbytery  of  Palmer. 
The  three  presbyteries  being  thus  organized  were  then  formed  into  one 
body  called  the  Synod  of  New  England,  and  held  their  first  meeting  at  Lon- 
donderry, September  4,  1776. 

A  few  years  previous  to  this,  the  Rev.  John  Murray  had  removed  from 
Philadelphia  and  settled  at  Boothbay,  and  with  Rev.  Mr.  Prince  of  Barring- 
ton,  and  Rev.  Mr.  M'Ewins  of  New  Market,  formed  another  Presbytery,  but 
no  connexion  was  ever  formed  between  this  body  and  the  Synod  of  New- 
England." 

The    Presbytery    last    referred   to,    was    called    the    Presbytery   of   the 
'.ward,  and  with  this  Mr.  Parsons  and   his   Church,  having  withdrawn 
from  their  connection  with  the  former  body,  now  became  united. 


(a)  At  the  close  of  the  first  half  century  from  his  settlement,  Rev.  Dr. 
Dana,  being  then  pastor  of  the  Second  Presbyterian  Church  in  this  town, 
delivered,  in  compliance  with  a  special  request,  a  very  excellent  and  appro- 


DO 


priate  discourse,  the  following  correspondence  haying  previously  passed  be- 
tween him  and  the  pastor  and  session  of  his  former  charge  : 

Newburyport,  Nov.  23,  1544. 
The  Rev.  Da.viel  Da.va,  D.  D. 

Dear  Sir, — With  the  full  concurrence,  as  we  believe,  of  the  First  Pres- 
byterian Church  and  Society,  to  whose  service  in  the  gospel,  the  energies 
of  your  youth  were  devoted,  we  present  you  our  sincere  thanks  for  the 
very  appropriate  and  excellent  discourse  delivered  at  our  place  of  worship, 
on  the  semi-centennial  anniversary  of  your  ordination. — Believinor  that  its 
usefulness  may  be  still  further  extended,  we  would  also  respectfully 
request  a  copy  for  publication. 

J.  F.  STEARNS,  Pastor  of  the  Church. 
THOMAS  M.  CLARK,  >  n         ...        e  ..     _      . 
PAUL  SIMPSON,  5  Committee  of  the  Session. 


To  the  Reverend  Pastor,  and  the  Session  of  the  First  Presbvterian  Church. 

My  Dear  Brethren, — As  your  cordial  invitation,  to  preach  a  semi- 
centennial sermon  in  your  house  of  worship,  left  me  no  choice,  so  your 
present  request,  though  dictated,  probably,  by  a  too  partial  judgment,  is 
equally  decisive  with  me.  I  therefore  submit  the  discourse,  with  all  its 
imperfections,  to  your  disposal. 

Whether  it  shall,  or  shall  not  be  found  worthy  of  the  public  attention,  it 
will  at  least  signify  to  the  beloved  people  of  mv  former  and  my  present 
charge,  what  were  the  first,  the  last,  and  the  dearest  wishes  of  their  affec- 
tionate pastor,  in  their  behalf. 

Believe  me,  my  dear  brethren,  very  sincerely  yours, 

DANIEL  DANA. 
Newburyport,  Nov.  2-5,  1*44. 

In  the  evening  of  the  same  dav  there  was  a  delightful  Catherine,  at  the 
house  of  Dr.  Dana,  of  friends  from  all  religious  societies  and  denominations 
among  us,  who  thronged  thither  to  pay  him  their  respects  and  congratula- 
lations.  Few,  it  is  believed,  went  empty  handed,  and  among  the  sons  of 
Newburyport  in  other  places,  some  who  could  not  be  present,  claimed  the 
privilege  of  sending  their  free  will  offering. 


(o)  The  settlement  of  all  difficulties  previously  existing  between  this 
Church  and  the  First  Church  in  Newbury  is  due  chiefly  to  the  efforts  of  the 
present  pastor  of  that  Church  the  Rev.  Leonard  Withington.  Unwilling  to 
take  the  charge  of  a  people  with  whom  any  of  the  neighboring  Churches 
were  not  in  full  charity,  he  insisted  before  calling  the  Council  for  his  ordina- 
tion, that  an  effort  should  be  made  to  secure  amicable  relations  between  the 
two  Churches.  Accordingly  committees  were  appointed  on  both  sides,  and 
after  mutual  conference  and  investigation  the  following  transactions  took 
place. 

Bv  The  First  Presbyterian  Church  in  Newburyport, 

"  Voted,  that  from  a  canful  examination  of  the  records,  it  does  not  appear 
that  this  Church  lias  at  any  time,  recent  or  remote,  affixed   any  eccleaiaa- 


64 

tical  censure  to  the  First  Church  in  Newbury,  or  to  any  individuals  belo 
ing  to  it." 

Thereupon  the  First  Church  in  Newbury, 

"  At  a  meeting  of  the  Church,  October  16,  1816,  Voted,  That  all  misun- 
derstandings and  infelicities  whatever,  which  may  have  existed  between 
this  Church  and  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  in  Newburyport,  be  from 
this  time  buried  in  perpetual  oblivion,  and  we  on  our  part  cheerfully  agree 
and  engage  that  the  two  Churches  shall  mutually  treat  and  be  treated  by 
each  other  as  Christian  Churches,  agreeably  to  the  principles  of  the  gospel 
and  the  established  usages  of  the  Churches  of  New  England. " 

On  the  same  day  the  First  Presbyterian   Church  in  Newburyport  passed 

the  same  vote  unanimously  in  the   same  words,  and  communicated  the  fact 

to  the  First  Church  in  Newbury  by  their  committee  as  follows  : 

"  Newburyport,  Oct.  17,  1816. 

Dear  Sir, — It  is  with  much  pleasure  that  I  can  inform  you  that  I  am  en- 
trusted by  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  in  this  place  to  give  you  notice 
that  said  Church  unanimously  adopted  the  vote  recommended  to  them  by 
their  committee  relative  to  an  amicable  understanding  with  your  Church, 
which  I  hope  will  be  of  long  continuance  and  for  the  glory  of  God  in  the 
building  up  of  his  kingdom. 

"With  sentiments  of  esteem  and  affection, 

I  am,  dear  Sir,  your  brother, 

THOMAS  M.  CLARK. 
Hon.  Eben  March,  &c." 

Since  the  adoption  of  this  mutual  agreement,  no  Churches  have  been 
more  happy  and  undisturbed  in  their  fellowship  than  this  once  rebellious 
daughter  and  offended  parent. 

(p)  The  number  of  names  signed  to  the  covenant  at  its  first  adoption,  was 
46,  viz :  24  males  and  22  females.  The  following  statistical  table  will  show 
the  whole  number  who  have  been  admitted  during  the  ministry  of  each  of 
the  several  pastors,  with  the  annual  average  during  each,  omitting  fractions. 

Ministers. 

Parsons, 

Murray, 

Dana, 

Williams, 

Proudfit, 

Present  Pastor, 

The  whole  number,  as  fir  as  can  be  ascertained,  during  the  century,  is 
1160. 


No    Yrs. 

Whole  jXo. 

Ann.  Av. 

30 

303 

10 

,12 

88 

7 

26 

208 

8 

6 

89 

15 

5  1-2 

218 

39 

10 

161 

16 

